About This Project - by Jill Kronstadt, Associate Professor, English

In Fall 2011, at Montgomery College's Germantown campus, my Basic Writing II class had a theme of homelessness and community engagement. As part of this project, we read Jeannette Walls' memoir The Glass Castle; volunteered for service learning project related to homelessness in Montgomery County, Maryland; and wrote essays that connected our reading and service learning.

This fall, with the help of Germantown's Service Learning Coordinator, Kris Borcherding, our class volunteered for service projects that would help shed light on the memoir. Most of the class participated in Montgomery County's first-ever Homeless Resource Day, with a few other students volunteering to tutor children in math, serve Thanksgiving dinner to families in poverty, or bag nonperishable foods for kids who would otherwise go hungry over the weekends.

On October 19, 2011, Montgomery County bussed homeless people from shelters and encampments to a central location in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Students who volunteered at the Homeless Resource Day guided these homeless guests through a maze of medical, dental, mental health, personal care, and social services that had gathered in one location for one-stop access to resources. The day was a huge success, with MC students earning particular kudos for their dedication, enthusiasm, and generosity.

The essays that follow are based on the reading and volunteering we completed during the semester and were written, revised, and edited entirely by the students. Not all the students elected to have their essays published on this website, but the ones that did show growth in both writing and awareness of the issue of homelessness.

Enjoy!

Jill Kronstadt
Associate Professor, English
Montgomery College
Germantown, MD



Saturday, December 10, 2011

Are the Walls More Good Than Bad, or More Bad Than Good? by Teresa Downs

In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the story tells us readers about living life on the run, and often homeless. The Walls are a pretty dysfunctional family, who encounters a lot of tough situations. There’s not a day that goes by without someone getting hurt one way or another along with ridiculous dreams and empty promises. The Walls are more bad than good because the negative outweighs the positive. They are reckless, selfish, and oblivious, is more than enough to back up my opinion.


The first reason that the Walls are more bad than good is that they are extremely reckless. On page forty three, Mr. Walls drives off the road drunk in the dark, with the kids in the back seat, screaming and chasing after his pregnant wife. The Walls parents are putting their wants, and emotions ahead of their unborn child which is taking their recklessness to the extreme. Another time the Walls parents have showed and stressed this quality is on page seventy one, Mr. Walls picks up his wife and puts her outside a window and dangles her out of a window just barely holding onto her in front of their own children and all the neighbors. This is another form
of being extremely reckless and letting emotions take over their control. No one should put a loved ones life at risk like that. None of the above is appropriate qualities a parent would want their children to carry on or act out.


The second reason why the Walls are more bad than good is because they are very irresponsible. Mr. Walls can’t keep a job page sixty seven. The longest Mr. Walls has ever been employed is six months. It is impossible for Mr. and Mrs. Walls to be successful nor a positive role model to their children if they can’t keep a job. Another reason Mr. and Mrs. Walls are irresponsible is because on page twenty nine Mr. and Mrs. Walls leave the children in the car to “catch a quick nip.” The father spends all of his money on boos. It’s one thing to admit, and personally accept alcoholism, but to use that as a personal excuse to “get your fix” is entirely irresponsible. Leaving young children alone, in a vehicle for hours at a time is very selfish, as well as irresponsible. No loving role model parent should do any of those things to or in front of their children!


My third reason the Walls are more bad than good is because they are oblivious. On page thirty Jeannette falls out of the car while her drunken father makes a sharp turn and it takes them a whole entire day to realize she’s missing and to come back for her. I can only imagine how the poor girl felt being alone is the dark in a dessert. Jeannette probably thought they weren’t going to come back for her just like they didn’t come back for her cat! My second example is on page forty six, the Mom and Dad were “running out of the hospital, cradling a bundle in her arms giggling sort of guiltily like shed just stolen candy bar.” Mr. and Mrs. Walls are entirely oblivious when it comes down to the safety and well-being of their children. No one should ever run around with a newborn baby in their arms. She shouldn’t be running after just giving birth to a baby, It’s awful to be parents and to be so oblivious.


The many instances in the book show numerous times they have committed thoughtless, careless and out of control behavior. The Walls are endangering not only their family, but also the people they drive by on the road, and pretty much anyone they come into contact with. In real life the parents could be arrested, the children would be taken away by child services, and the parents would lose custody of the kids. If driving drunk in real life, not only is the driver putting themselves at risk, everyone else around them is at risk as well.

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