Flash FictionThe Invaders
Emma Schroeder The attack hit us without warning. The explosion leveled the ground and the tallest buildings crumbled. Many were killed, including my family. The Invaders took everything from us and they came back for more. The town struggled to believe that it was real, that our attackers could do such a thing. But reports of similar attacks in different countries reached us. They came for our land, our homes, and our lives. They want to wipe our planet clean and make it their own. It’s been 5 years since they came and a rebellion has been formed. We will reclaim our world. It’s time for the human race to fight back. I’ve been training for 3 years with the rebellion. Gone is the scared, scrawny kid with shaggy black hair and green eyes hiding in the sink cupboard. I, Dustin Holmes, along with my girlfriend Hunter will get revenge. We received our orders early in the morning. Setting out in our Fighters we sped to the location. Soon it was in sight. The massive, pyramid shaped aircraft hovered high above us. On the ground we saw wrecked ships from both sides. I heard Hunter murmur though the headset a soft prayer for the fallen soliders, her thick Austrailian accent making it hard to distinguish what she says. I saw a hole in the main ship and, on a crazy impulse, sped towards it. I yelled at Hunter to not follow. Into the ship I went, crashing through the levels till I got to the core. A large blue orb pulsed at my arrival. The control seemed to be alive. Taking a deep breath I called Hunter over the line and whispered into it. I drove my fighter straight into it and hit a red button I was trained to never hit. Where does it go?Introduction
Every year it seems that we clean out our closets for the coming year’s fashions. Old clothes that we once loved lost their luster. A shirt that was cool in Freshman year is now out of date. Tired favorites are never worn. So into bags and boxes they go, each piece bringing back old memories. Most people donate them to organizations like Goodwill. After dropping them off, thoughts of where your seasoned belongings go don’t occur. But where do they really go? The Journey
The question of where our worn out things go isn’t an easy one to answer. Only about 15% of unwanted clothing actually ends up in a recycled or reused industry. Once the items are dropped off at those convenient sidewalk bins, 45% of “worthy waste” is resold to thrift shops and in other countries halfway around the world. According to Elizabeth Cline in Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, items are usually given just two to three weeks to sell before they’re moved out to make space for new donations. A lot of this apparel gets sold, packed up and shipped across the ocean. The U.S exports a billion pounds of used clothing to other counties. But what about the other 55%? Well in the traditional sense when we think of recycle, the wear is ground down and reprocessed. Obviously, the textiles are turned into recyclable rags and cloths. Buying these remade cloths is a better alternative than buying new, because why waste precious resources such as cotton? Industries, like oil companies, have been using these recycled towels for quite some time. These ground down textiles are also used as insulation for new homes. But this only makes up 20% of where the non-wearable clothing goes. 30% of it ends up being cut up and used as industrial rags. The remaining 5% is unusable. Normally, when we deposit our wardrobe into those donation bins we think they become hand-me-downs to homeless people or those who can’t afford retail. But the reality isn’t that. Supply of second hand clothing far outweighs the demand. Why should a market in Kenya be saddled with our used duds? If you are like most American’s, you’ve most likely donated way more than you ever have bought at a thrift shop. |
Reflection to Flash Fiction
What now?
So what now? Figuring out a way to discard our old wear can be complicated. If those sidewalk donation bins were removed, we wouldn’t know what to do with our goods. Would we turn to throwing everything away? American’s think of donating unwanted clothes as still charitable, which it can be, but doesn’t it also mean we saddle other countries with our waste? Still, when it comes to donating a certain satisfaction rolls through us, providing people with things they need feels as if we have done some good in this world. The obvious solution is to get more and more people to buy second hand. Instead of paying full price for things, why not also go into thrift stores to see what hidden treasures may be there as well. American’s tend to think that if you don’t buy retail then somehow you are lowering yourself. It’s beneath you. That is not the case. However, the only way to effectively reduce the amount to textiles shipped to other countries is to change our whole culture and that is one thing no single person can do. |
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The Prototype-
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Reflection-
This was a fun assignment. I enjoyed cutting out the different pictures and placing them in my book. Each Dada and Erasure entry is a from a variety of songs that mean something to me and played a hand in shaping who I am today.
This was a fun assignment. I enjoyed cutting out the different pictures and placing them in my book. Each Dada and Erasure entry is a from a variety of songs that mean something to me and played a hand in shaping who I am today.
Hero's journey Reflections-
![Picture](/uploads/5/9/0/4/59047685/1252583.jpg?1446137002)
Thoughts-
I’m so nervous but I’ll be okay. I just need to warm up and stay focused. Nothing can distract me. I will be one of the top runners in the State, My injury will not hold me back today. I may be pouring down with rain but that won’t stop me. I was built to run in the rain, I tell myself I love it which isn’t a lie. Breathe Emma. Stay focused. This race will open doors to your future. and scholarships for college.. Stay focused. Time to go. My race is up. Stop thinking. Focus. Focus. 7 for the front, 14 for the back. Set it, align. Inhale, exhale. Practice burst. Faster. Breathe. Stretch.. Inhale deeply. Exhale.
I’m so nervous but I’ll be okay. I just need to warm up and stay focused. Nothing can distract me. I will be one of the top runners in the State, My injury will not hold me back today. I may be pouring down with rain but that won’t stop me. I was built to run in the rain, I tell myself I love it which isn’t a lie. Breathe Emma. Stay focused. This race will open doors to your future. and scholarships for college.. Stay focused. Time to go. My race is up. Stop thinking. Focus. Focus. 7 for the front, 14 for the back. Set it, align. Inhale, exhale. Practice burst. Faster. Breathe. Stretch.. Inhale deeply. Exhale.