1) The document is a personal essay reflecting on the author's life and identity. It discusses his Irish heritage, childhood in Boston, Catholic school education, and current goals. 2) After struggling in his first year of business school, the author took time off to work but realized he wanted to focus on owning a home and having a career above the poverty line. 3) The author feels he has earned some respect through his experiences but sees most environments as less friendly than his high school. He is determined to accomplish his goals in the next 6 years through hard work.

1. John Kelley<br />ENGL 102-008<br />Thesis 1<br />In youth I saw the question ‘Who Am I’ asking what I do and what I’m going to do and how do I prepare myself for what happens next. Instead of saying no one, I always tried to change a small part of me based on who I want to be, how I’ve performed to my standard of self<br />Topic<br />Social Identiy: White Irish boy from south of Boston, grandparents story, how my composition is only a piece of me, ultimately it;’s my goals that keep me going: philosophy guides me, but my goals drive me..<br />Born and raised South of Boston, I’ve got a unique identity with a vast background in the versatility of geography I’ve been exposed to. I started off locally but slowly spread my wings across a wide area where I’ve been lucky enough to meet and collect friends from all these areas.<br />10/25/2010<br />From School to Work and Back to School: My Life’s Pages<br />Boy Scouts taught me a number of important principles that were embedded in my character and were made intrinsic to me when I earned those merit badges and belt loops. They may not have sculpted the me I am, but they were invaluable lessons that helped carve who I have become. Those formative parts of my childhood compose the importance of my performative adulthood. These memories serve as my explanation of where I came from, I hope you can look back and agree with who I say I am now.<br />Initially I went to a small pre school / nursery school that helped me read before kindergarten. Followed by a public school until third grade where I excelled scholastically and as a nerd spent much of my time reading. I was sharp and it was then that I had the most time in my life to withdraw into the depths of pages of fiction. Next came my jump into parochial schools, beginning with St. John’s in Canton and then a 4 year career at Xaverian Brothers High School, not only a college preparatory school but a life prep school it was called. I excelled in both and it took until my freshman year before I could “strike out on my own.” (But it took until my junior year before I heard Willy Loman say it in my mind.) My endeavors were met with greatness except for my bid at class president in my freshman year, but did eventually win it for my Junior Year. As it turns out I lost to Ted Amendola, a kid from the football team that was taken to by the team and its captains pretty well. I would have liked to get to know him better then, but he’s 6’10” and at our round of basketball tryouts he was moved up to JV on the second day. We later hit it off well when he got placed on the freshman team despite his advantage, I’m proud to call him my friend but I should visit Hyde Park more often to play some pick up ball. Socially, I earned the respect of my peers and teachers, Ted included. If there is one regret, I labored too little and dipped my fingers into too much. Labor I mean here is my quantity of what I took on was not met with my capacity to toil. Our class’s student council was fun but accomplished very little, our goals were outside our scope and we didn’t try to expand the council’s abilities. (Puclowski.)<br />I did a lot mostly for the recognition, to be respected, to be liked. The geek attitude was old and ready to be shed and making new friends became my new focus. I knew immediately that high school was a place for growth and the school actually set the stage for the maturation process to prepare us unwitting freshman for a place somewhere in society. How they managed to assimilate us to some sort of standards still amazes and delights, because we were pretty incorrigible. I wanted to be a 6 star general, to have pins from all the activities that I was a member of. Aspiring to be the best freshman recruiter the school had, the year I spoke to accepted students we had the biggest freshman class ever. I’m proud of what I did for my high school and I’m proud of what it did to me. The freshman looked up to me to see what they could do, and that made me proud. I ran a few of the extra-curriculars I was in and this leadership gave me a chance to show off my leadership value but also my talent to manage lightheartedly. I was happy with my chance, and I never wasted an opportunity to show why I was unique and qualified enough for the job, everyday was an actual adventure with me and I never failed to entertain as well as administer. Through and through, I was quoted as having too much fun and if I wasn’t ready for college, it was entirely my fault for underpreparation and a lack of imperativeness to work; I played too much.<br />Everyone and every group encounter at least once in their life a bounce back moment. They hit the ground and it makes them realize they really have to strain to move forward in what they try to accomplish. For the Irish, it was the No Irish Need Apply signs that worked their way into the shops and markets around town. They took the lowest spots, the down trodden, looked down upon jobs just to make ends meet. They pushed and unrelentingly worked to foist the respect they deserved onto others that didn’t show it from the beginning. While my ancestry is only a piece of me, it shadows me and my personal struggle.<br />Last year I dropped out of business school because I never had pressure before this. High school was the frog pond for me: I felt free and could move with it easily. The expectations were open ended and I approached it with the work as little as I could approach. I had a poor attitude, an unmotivated ethic, and a second freshman year to show for it. Originally the difference between living at home and commuting and on campus life was too much, I had huge difficulties transitioning out of high school into my new full time student status. My self-dismissal from Bentley University came from the fact that I didn’t know how to live and work in the same place. My primary home in high school was my school, but my bed time was when I left. In college, there’s no leaving. The school is a business giant and a fun place to be but after my time there it was not the school I saw on accepted students day and imagined myself living at. I thought college would be all kumbaya sing along circles, parties, and acoustic circles showing off their prowess on a portable instrument. Although still eligible to attend the University in January, I don’t picture myself on the hilly Waltham campus.<br />Forced into my corner only through my decisions, I have come to realize how horrifying a place the workforce can be. I worked between 50 and 70 hours a week from November until May and the circularness of my jobs scared me and made me realize the true goals I have for myself. It made my scope much more direct. Whether I was at college or working, my key goal is to own a home by the age of 25. The rest can wait ten or so years, but work and a household are my priorities. I can’t live with my parents forever, not because they don’t want me there but simply because a life spent with them is a rather foolish one. I exist primarily to prepare for my life in 5 years: I have to be able to throw a down payment on my house, I have to earn enough credits at school to certify myself for a job that is above the poverty line (I made less than the poverty line last year.) Although like the Irish, all I’ve done that’s gotten me to now has only helped improve my situation, and I can keep working until I get what I want.<br />Quite a difference since my days in high school, I have not enjoyed quite the same recognition that I did before I had a high school degree. Socialy the world isn’t the same as high school, but life has been different since then. Have I earned some respect? Yes, absolutely, but I see most environments as less friendly as I viewed my high school. Am I pulling through? I have a shiny outlook on life, but I won’t be anything when I’m 25 if I don’t persevere and make people respect me by being too good to ignore. I have a 6 year capacity to fill, all I can do is put myself in a state of mind to accomplish these for me.<br />Puclowski, Chad. \"
Xaverian Brothers - Student Council.\"
Student Council. Xaverian Brothers High School, 09 Sep. 2010. Web. 25 Oct 2010. <http://www.xbhs.com/s/141/xaverian.aspx?sid=141&gid=1&pgid=1613>.<br />