Answer:
1. "A Community Park" is a short story about a girl named Samara. She noticed many important scenes on her way back home from school. She saw that there is not enough space to enjoy various activities in her community. There was not enough space for people to enjoy life:
Samara saw that kids were playing on a little spot - 'Samara thought they looked comical running around in circles on a small plot of land between two houses.'
She saw Mr. Peters who was sitting on a bench. She wondered how he can read in such a noisy place - 'He was reading his newspaper as the heavy traffic of the town’s main thoroughfare whizzed by him. She wondered how he could concentrate.'
She saw Mrs. Yang who didn't have enough space to garden - “You know, if I had room, I would plant enough vegetables to feed the entire neighborhood! My mother had a garden that was one square acre when I was a little girl in Korea.”
Samara felt that it was not right; people have to be happy and have enough space to spend their life. She felt she had to do something, and she decided to suggest the town officials build a community park where everybody would find something for them: kids would play, people could read on fresh air, there could be a vegetable garden, etc. -'She realized that Pine Grove did not have any open public spaces where everyone could go to relax and enjoy nature.'
Samara with collaboration with her neighbors managed to create this all - 'At the meeting, residents voted on what would be included on the land: a playset for young children and one for older children, a swing set, several park benches, and a dog run. It was also decided that there would be a cooperative organic vegetable garden and an herb garden at the north end of the park.'
2. When the narrator of the short story "My first day on the job" graduated university, the job market was in bad shape; he could not find any job for a few months. He didn't know what he wanted to do for life, he was thinking about his future - 'I'd been an English major and wanted to be a writer, though I had no idea what kind of writer.'
But suddenly he was suggested a reporter position at the newspaper chain. The narrator happily accepted the offer and got the job. Two weeks later he found out he had to cover a school story by himself; he was really afraid to do this reporting news all by himself. But he managed to do it, he was happy about his work. He learned a lot on this job that can help him to continue to work as a reporter -'I learned a great deal from him about how to cover a story well, how to handle my sources, and how to make a boring story seem interesting.'
So thanks to the job market that was in bad shape earlier, our narrator found a job that he really liked. He received a great experience in the writing field that can help him to become a great writer. This story proves that Everything is for the best.
