Word of the Week #4: Despondent

Word Count: 82

1. The Word: despondent
2. Where it was found: San Jose Mercury News article
3. Sentence (from which the word was found): "About 15 minute later, callers to 911 reported a despondent woman standing on the Mathilda Avenue overpass about Highway 101, near the apartment complex, who appeared ready to jump."
4. Dictionary Definition: (adjective) feeling or showing extreme discouragement, dejection, or depression. (Definitions found here)
5. Original Sentence: The despondent woman was unable to stand after learning about her father's sickness.

Word of the Week #3: Purveyor

Word Count: 101

1. The Word: purveyor
2. Where it was found: San Jose Mercury News article ("Cheap Eats Dining Review: Street Food Trucks") (Click here for link)
3. Sentence (from which the word was found): "Those rolling purveyors of high-end street food have popped up in cities from coast to coast."
4. Dictionary Definition: 1 )(noun) a person who purveys, provides, or supplies. 2) (often plural) a person, organization, etc, that supplies food and provisions. (Definitions found here)
5. Original Sentence: It was difficult to choose what to eat for lunch because there were over a dozen purveyors of delicious foods to choose from.

Words Collide Sentences

Word Count: 195

Damage/Destroy

The storm caused minor damage to Cindy's yard including a broken fence and a few fallen branches.

The criminal planned to destroy the evidence so that nothing could be left to trace the crime back to him.

Elicit/Illicit

The politician posted a video of himself volunteering at the local homeless shelter to elicit positive response for him campaign from the community.

Tiger Woods had illicit affairs with several women throughout the course of his marriage.

Fewer/Less

Lisa, a petite woman, was frustrated that there were fewer small sizes than large sizes on the shelves while shopping at her favorite clothing store.

Cynthia was annoyed that she would have to share a bedroom with her sister because there would now be less space for her things.

Principal/Principle

The location in New York City is the company's principal store due to the millions that shop at that location on a daily basis.

My father was a man based on principle so he always made sure to do the right thing.

Rebut/Refute

The police officer used intimidation to attempt to rebut the suspect's supposed alibi.

The ADA planned to use new evidence to refute the suspect's testimony.

Word of the Week #2: Queue

Word Count: 94

1. The Word: queue
2. Where it was found: New York Times article ("Demand at Target for Fashion Line Crashes Website")(Click here for link)
3. Sentence (from which the word was found): "By then, Target had put people in sort of a queue, automatically refreshing the page so those who were patient could reach the site."
4. Dictionary Definition: (noun) a file or line, especially of people waiting their turn. (Definition found here)
5. Original Sentence: There was a queue of people purchasing emergency supplies at the convenience store before the big storm hit.

My Favorite Writing

Word Count: 252

Tupac Shakur's poem, "Jada", from his book The Rose That Grew from Concrete grabbed my heart the first time I read it when I was a sophomore in high school.

And now six years later, it still continues to pull at my heart strings.

Shakur expresses his heartfelt emotions for his friend Jada (a.k.a. Jada Pinkett Smith) in the poem.

At the beginning of the poem, the reader may sense that she is his lover.

However, at the end of the poem, we see that she is a close, dear friend.

Although he does use sexual references, he in no way expresses his feelings through sex which is quite refreshing to me since relationships today seem to focus so much on sex.

Jada is his heart and his words express his feelings perfectly.

While Shakur's style may not be traditional, I feel that I can feel his emotions jumping right off of the page -as if I were there with him reading every detail and thought running through his brain.

Shakur is known for his "roughness" as a rapper but I feel that there is so much more to him.

After reading many of his poems, I feel that his whole rap star persona was a front while the "real" him sat in the background.

I feel that the real Tupac Shakur was not the "bad boy" that the media portrayed him as.

Instead, he was just another man with a big heart -a heart that loved his family, friends, and women.


Shakur, Tupac. The Rose That Grew from Concrete. 1st. New York: Pocket Books, 1999. 88-89. Print.