I would rather live in a utopia as a normal person, because I don’t like the idea of being supreme ruler in a dystopia- I just think everyone would hate me. I’m generally not a person who takes a lot of risks- so living in a utopia as a completely normal person sounds awesome to me. In a utopia, no one would be looking to me to make difficult decisions that affect a lot of people (and no one would hate me for causing their miserable lives). Although a dystopia sounds dangerous in a cool way, I’d rather live in a utopia.

I would rather be invisible because I could be in places that are almost impossible for visible people to be in. I would try tons of new things, like sit in on a college class, go to a Hollywood movie premiere, and even hang out with a different group of friends to see what they talk about. Of course, it would be saddening to hear or see something I wouldn’t want to, but my curiosity would get the best of me. I think it would be so cool to sneak up on and prank people. Overall, I think the most tempting idea would be to attend a concert or movie premiere and see all my favorite celebrities for free.

My favorite memory to relive was when I saw snow in Arizona, while visiting the Grand Canyon. It wasn’t my first time seeing snow, but it was still one of the only times in my life that I have. I was with my family, including grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. We ran out of our hotel in the morning and had a snowball fight in the parking lot. It reminds me of all the good times I’ve spent with my family. My least favorite memory to relive was the passing of my uncle. I was in Japan when he passed, and I wish I could’ve seen him one last time. He helped to take care of me a lot when I was little, and we were really close. Although I don’t like to relive that memory, it does remind me of all the good memories that I have of him.

I know that the college essay is a major part of the college application process. I definitely fear the college essay because it could make or break one’s chances of getting into their dream school, just because their essay didn’t meet the standards of a certain college. But every college/university has their own standards, so I imagine it’s a nerve wrecking process. I can see myself worrying extensively about my college essay, because it could be well-written and grammatically correct, but simply not what the college is looking for. However, I’m excited to start writing it, because I can be creative and talk about my life experiences.

My Life, My Love, My Legacy looks the most interesting to me. It’s the memoir of Coretta Scott King, and I’m interested in learning new information about the King family that the general public might not know. I like to learn about social and political culture of the past, and I think the civil rights movement was extremely influential in our society today. I’m excited to see if King’s legacy turned out to be what she hoped for.

I would rather always have to announce myself when walking into a room, because it seems like it would draw less attention. I try to greet my teachers whenever I walk into their classrooms, so I think it would be fairly easy to tack on an extra sentence informing everyone of my presence. If I was in a professional setting, like a job interview, cartwheeling on my way out could hurt my chances of getting the job; and also be dangerous if I was wearing fancy clothes. Both scenarios are definitely out of my comfort zone, but I think the first option is better to just get over the embarrassment quickly.

I would rather lose one ear, because I value my sight more than my hearing. I think life would be a lot more difficult, and frankly, less vibrant with only one eye. And with one ear, I would still hear many things, but I might have to turn my head at times or strain my ear to hear. In our society, sight is extremely valuable and although there are many tools like Braille and guide animals, life without sight can still be difficult and frustrating. In addition, I think I wouldn’t get as many strange or pitiful looks from strangers if I went out in public with just one ear, as opposed to one eye.

I’ve heard good things about CNF- that it teaches you writing tips for college essays, and is an opportunity to freewrite without too many rules. It was my first choice, because I want to strengthen my writing skills and become more confident in writing personal narratives. I hope to gain an understanding of the college essay process, as well as give and receive feedback from other students. I haven’t written much nonfiction before, so I’m excited to utilize my writing skills and creativity in a different way.

My relationship with writing has generally been pretty positive throughout my whole life. When I was in elementary school, I realized that I enjoyed writing (and English in general) more than most other subjects. I like how writing is graded more on effort and being detailed, and is always up for interpretation. Reading a lot of books also made me enjoy creative writing, where I could create a story from my own head, and it wouldn’t have to follow a rubric or write about a boring topic. A good moment that I can remember comes from last year (English 10). We had a timed writing on a novel, and I didn’t know the prompt until I got to class that day, but I understood the main themes of the novel and felt confident that I could craft a detailed essay. When I was writing during the 55 minute block, I focused on getting my ideas down on the paper, instead of the little grammar mistakes I made. A bad writing moment I can recall was poetry writing in 9th grade. We had to free-write a poem that didn’t rhyme or follow any poetry pattern. It wasn’t very fun for me to write stanzas that didn’t rhyme or have specific syllabic patterns. I didn’t like how awkward the poem sounded when it was read, and I still don’t. An ugly writing moment I remember was occurred when I wrote one of my very first essays at Iolani (9th grade). I had just learned what the Keables code was, and had to memorize numerous codes and incorporate them into the editing process. I absolutely dreaded using the codes, and became very frustrated at all the mistakes I had to fix. I wanted no part of the Keables code and it made me despise writing for a short time.

My first name, Malia, comes from my paternal grandmother. Her name is Mary, and Malia is it’s Hawaiian translation. My parents wanted myself and my siblings to have Hawaiian first names. For my middle name, Sunny, my parents just liked the name; so much in fact that they’ve called me Sunny my whole life. My last name, Monaco, is Italian, and comes from my dad’s side of the family. My great-grandparents immigrated to Boston from Italy in the 1930’s, and my grandparents later moved to Hawaii, bringing the name with them.