Profile Essay

Natalie Sangiacomo

October 26, 2009

The Light and Darkness of the Golden Gate Bridge

The fog rolls through the Golden Gate Bridge on a July summer morning. Not until mid afternoon can the bridge’s 500 ft. towers become visible. The orange vermillion color of the bridge blends perfectly with the landscape surrounding it and reflects the coolness of the blue sky. The bridge’s extensive main cables, delicately connects The Bridge. The crashing of waves as they splash against the bridge’s barriers, and the sounds of sea gulls chirping as they soar along the bay gives those walking along the bridge a sense of calmness and serenity. Joseph B. Strauss, Chief engineer of the bridge, a genius engineering science, created this triumph of human brilliance. This iconic structure attracts over 9 million visitors yearly. Many people travel from all over the world to visit this magical landmark and see a true sense of beauty in San Francisco, while others visit to end their life.

"I had heard that the Golden Gate Bridge was the easiest way to die. I heard that you hit the water and you're dead," Hines said. "And I remember picking the spot. This is the good spot. I'm not too close to the pillar. I won't hit the pillar. I'm not too close to the land. I won't hit the land. I'll hit the water and I'll die." Kevin Hines, a San Franciscan who suffers from bipolar disorder decided to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in 2000. His depressed cycles came to him regularly throughout high school and felt his only way out was to commit suicide. The moment Hines let go of the railing and descended toward the water below, he changed his mind. He thought, “What am I going to do? I don’t want to die.” There has been over 1, 300 people who died from jumping off the bridge, and Hines was one of the twenty-six people who has survived. A jump off the bridge is 98% fatal. People will either die by drowning, heart attack, or the impact of the bridge. Within four seconds, Hines was able to land feet first and was kept afloat by a seal. “You cannot tell me that wasn’t God, because that’s what I believe, and that’s what I’ll believe until the day I die.”

On average, a person jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge every two weeks. It serves as the number one suicide site in the world. There is a strange inference that if one wants to commit suicide, of choosing a place behind closed doors, and a place that is so mysteriously beautiful. Most suicides occur in everyday familiar places, that don’t associate with beauty. However, having fascination and grace as a death site, is what captivates those contemplating suicide to the bridge. The vision of the abandoned Alcatraz in the near distance, the tall buildings of San Francisco in perfect stillness, or the dark blue water glistening as the sun shines on the bay, acts as an attraction for seeing something that is truly beautiful for the last time.

Eric Steel, the director of the movie, The Bridge, decided to make a documentary on the human spirit in crisis with the Golden Gate Bridge. The crew had two cameras at certain angles along the bridge. In a year, Steel was able to capture 23 suicides and many attempts. Steel said, “The Bridge’s most striking power is its ability to seemingly erase time. Within moments of death, it’s like it’s never happened. Things return to normal.” [1]Those passing by and see a person jump 222 feet off the railing, look down to see that that person has disappeared into the rough waters of the bay. “Certainly it’s a highly risky, yet glorious way to draw attention to one’s self.” says Lyle Smith of San Jose California during an interview in The Bridge. The director captured 100 hours of personal heart breaking interviews with family members of suicides, people walking or driving across the bridge, and even surfers and boaters witnessing a suicide fall. The Bridge shows real life suicides, which leaves viewers haunted and open to discussion about this quietly talked about act of destruction. It addresses suicide in a way that doesn’t have the same impact as reading about it in an article.

The stories of family and friends of the many jumpers who did not survive, as well as the survivors, helped create media support for building a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. For many years, the idea of putting a suicide barrier has been shut down due to high costs, engineering difficulties, and public opposition. Those in favor of a barrier are outraged that those opposing it would rather save an icon than a life. However, opponents say a barrier on the bridge will not prevent people from killing themselves. The Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors has voted 14 -1 to approve a suicide barrier. The heartache, and terrifying stories of suicide jumpers have helped to finally put this struggle and contemplation of installing it into effect. While a barrier may not prevent those that are determined to kill themselves, it can interrupt one’s idea of killing themselves to get appropriate help.

Although many see the Golden Gate Bridge as their grave sight, its power and beauty has left San Franciscans with nothing, but pride and honor for their city’s landmark. Whether one’s at Crissy Field, the top of Coit Tower, or the hills from Pacific Heights, the bridge is visible throughout much of the city. Its vibrant glow has surfers and boaters on the water, on even the coldest San Francisco mornings. Unlike New York, San Francisco isn’t the city that never sleeps. However the lights along the bridge keeps the city alive throughout the night. At night when San Franciscans look out their windows at the bridge, they feel a sense of security, as they know its protecting their remarkable city.

1.

ABC NEWS, . "Man Survives Suicide Jump from Golden Gate Bridge." April 28, 2006: 3. Web. 20 Oct 2009. .

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narrative reflection

narrative essay

Natalie Sangiacomo

October 1, 2009

Narrative Essay #1

“The Joys of being Babysat and the Horrors of Babysitting”

“Can you and Daddy go out to dinner so a babysitter can watch us?” This was a question I constantly asked my mother as a kid. Throughout my childhood, my parents hired many babysitters to watch over my two sisters, brother, and I on the weekend nights. I would wait anxiously to hear the sound of the doorbell, as I watched my mother put on makeup for a dinner party. When the babysitters arrived, they would hug me, flip me upside down, or tickle me, and I knew instantly it was going to be a fun night. I couldn’t wait for my parents to kiss us goodbye and leave for a couple hours. They knew how excited we were to play with our babysitters, and the last word they would always say when they left the house was “Behave!” My siblings and I were well behaved and always did what my parents told us, so when the door closed; we were ready to do whatever we wanted.

As I grew older, I couldn’t wait to be the fun, crazy, babysitter like I had when I was young. I thought babysitting was an easy responsibility and the babysitters had just as much fun as the kids. Finally, in seventh grade, Mrs. Rizzo, a mother from my grammar school called my home. “Are you free to babysit my three little boys on Friday night?” she asked. My voice went up so high, that I sounded like a teenage boy going through puberty, as I excitingly answered, “Yes!”

I babysat Jack, Nicholas, and Angelo, who were all under the age of ten. At first, I saw them as three adorable little boys with brown hair and brown eyes. I would have never guessed in a million years that when their mother left the house, they would turn into three little monsters.

I first ordered the children pizza, and instead of eating the food, they threw the food. “Were not hungry!” they screamed. Within the first half hour of my babysitting career, I was cleaning cheese pizza off the walls, and wiping their faces and hands off with a paper towel. Jack, Nicholas, and Angelo then decided to have a wrestling match, which resulted in Angelo crying, and Jack’s nose bleeding. It turns out I wasn’t going to be the fun, crazy, babysitter that I imagined. I felt as if I turned into their mother. A timeout was necessary in this case! I dragged each one of them into a separate room to sit and “think about their actions” for ten minutes. However, my attempt to punish them resulted in a complete failure. I then put on a movie, hoping these boys, who seemed to have A.D.D., would finally calm down. Jack complained that he was hungry, since he decided to throw his dinner and not eat it, so I decided to make popcorn. Minutes later, I smelled burnt popcorn coming from the kitchen. I quickly ran to the kitchen, and there was black smoke everywhere! I frantically opened all the windows and doors, to prevent the smoke alarms from going off. For the next hour, I was spraying Lysol and the mother’s perfume so the house wouldn’t smell like a giant ashtray. I finally went back upstairs when I had everything under control. Luckily, the boys were still watching the movie, and didn’t ask about the smell coming from downstairs.

Mrs. Rizzo came home an hour early from her dinner party, and I couldn’t wait to leave and never come back to that house again. I asked her why she came home so early, and she replied, “Nicholas called and told me it smelled like a fire was coming from downstairs.” I was mortified. Right when I thought I had everything under control from a night of pure madness, the little brat throws me right under the bus. I couldn’t believe how these boys behavior changed the instant their mother was home. Mrs. Rizzo wrote me a check, glared at me, and sarcastically said, “Oh and thanks for using my one hundred dollars Joe Malone perfume.” I grabbed my check and ran out of the house with sheer embarrassment. I never received another phone call to babysit again from her or any other mother in my grammar school.

Growing up as a kid, I thought babysitting was all fun and games. It wasn’t until I became the babysitter that I realized it is, but only for the kids. While babysitting Jack, Nicholas, and Angelo I was constantly stressed and worried because numerous things went wrong. However as a child, I felt a sense of freedom that I could do whatever I wanted because an adult wasn’t around. Teenagers usually occupy the jobs to babysit children. I don’t know what I was doing babysitting three little kids in seventh grade. I was practically a kid myself.

Diane Wilson reflection

Natalie Sangiacomo

As I was writing this essay I wanted the audience to feel that I understood and learned from Diane Wilson’s more fully after I listened to her speak. Although her detailed book was extremely knowledgeable, I made a connection with her putting a face and voice to the words.

One of the problems I encountered while writing this essay was relating a personal experience with her message. I wanted to write about a topic in which I’m still passionate about, and not something I just made up. Even though my personal experience is entirely different than Diane Wilson’s, the idea and message are the same of supporting and making a difference to something you love and care about.

In high school, I was able to finish papers in under an hour and still be able to receive a good grade. I know that’s never going to happen again. It took myself more time to think about the lay out and ideas of my essay than I ever had in the past. I spent a great deal of time, energy, and efforts writing this essay and I only hope it will pay off. I look forward to becoming a better writer and making an introduction and conclusion stand out. I believe this class will challenge me to write in a different manner, and think in a more mature way.

Diane Wilson essay

Natalie Sangiacomo

“Diane’s Spoken and Written Word”

Diane Wilson, the author or An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift Texas, spoke to the Fairfield community on September 4, 2009 about her fight for environmental justice. After long hours of reading her book, I was intrigued by the opportunity to compare her written and spoken word. Although I admire Diane’s message and passion, her lack of public speaking skills, and a long overdue speech, left me leaving the convocation with information I already learned from her book.

As I was watching Diane speak to the crowd, her story seemed to come alive and the reality was palpable. Even though her speech was a summary of her book, her hand gestures, and stress on important words, made her more personable. Although Diane spoke with a fiery passion, her speech was often confusing and unclear at times. She used abbreviations, that she never explained to her audience, and dreaded on and repeated many of the same topics. People could tell simply by her way of speaking that just had a high school degree.

Throughout Diane’s speech, she encouraged her audience, especially women, to fight for what they’re passionate about. I attended a Jesuit high school and the Jesuit idea of being a person for others has made a huge impact on how I live my life. Throughout my high school experience I have become extremely passionate about supporting and helping the poor. I attended an Immersion trip with classmates to Costa Rica in 2008, in which I completed chores in the community and organized a children’s camp. I simply cared for and showed love to these children as a way of being a person for others. Many people can say they are a person for others, however it’s not until a person acts on the issue they’re passionate about can something be really be done.

After reading the book, I felt a lot of the information she presented was unnecessary. She wrote many chapters about her family, and her life in the past, which I thought were irrelevant. She improperly introduced characters without a clear description or minimum background information. Her book never had a clear flow of a story line, which made it even more difficult to read. She gave no outside opinion of her story, and solely told it from her point of view only.

Through Diane Wilson’s long speech and in depth writing , her struggle and message are now clearer than ever. Although her speech dragged on, and she repeated a majority of the facts that was in her book, it was a different way of learning and seeing things with a different perspective. Though I her story wasn’t entertaining, I thought her message and passion were inspiring.

Profile Essay Reflection

Natalie Sangiacomo

October 26, 2009

Since my last two drafts came back to me, I was disappointed in myself that I hadn’t given enough information and make my profile interesting. This profile essay was incredibly important to me. Suicide is a subject that our society feels uncomfortable talking about, and I didn’t want to address it or promote it in the wrong way. I worked very hard on this essay, and spent many hours trying to make the story flow.

My first paragraph starts out with describing the Golden Gate Bridge. I thought about using a quote from a man who tried to commit suicide, but I wanted the readers to be surprised that this essay is on suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge.

I decided to put in the story of Kevin Hines, a man who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived. My junior year of high school, Kevin came to my school and talked to only my grade on his experience. We had to write many papers about him, and I realized I should have included him earlier. I believe he makes my profile essay more interesting and real to readers. I decided to end this paragraph with a quote from him, because I believe it’s more meaningful to the reader this way.

I kept my third paragraph because I originally had spent a lot of time on it, and felt it’s description was great and any more would ruin the flow of the paragraph and the point I was trying to make.

The fourth paragraph talks about the movie, The Bridge. I highly recommend you watch this documentary. I included quotes from the director himself that he states in an interview as well as a quote from a man being interviewed in the movie. I wanted the reader to know what this movie addresses and the importance it’s left of the viewers that have seen it.

The next paragraph is about the suicide barrier. I am very disappointed that Vice President of the Golden Gate Board of Directors didn’t call me back. I would have emailed her, but her email was nowhere posted. This paragraph talks about how there are people who support a suicide barrier and there are those who oppose it.

The writing center and your comments on my paper, both said I should have my perspective on it. I wanted the reader to know why the bridge is so important to San Franciscans. Most San Franciscans see the bridge everyday, and it’s truly an amazing landmark is too beautiful for words. Being in the presence of the Golden Gate Bridge has, and forever will give me a sense of serenity and happiness.