Blog #15: It was...

It was a short drive to start a long day
It was a grin even when the world frowned
It was hardships and struggles
It was triumphs and successes

It was everlasting speeches from Lord Baron
It was teasing that made you know you were loved
It was that Hailey Glick hug, because she knows when you need it
It was the Avery McClure anecdote that made you smile

It was bonding over a sleepless night
It was shared knowing glances over the third mug of coffee
It was the shared exhilaration of handing Baron that Extended Essay
It was knowing that we did it, and we did it together.

It was fights and "shut ups" and numerous eye-rolls
It was chuckles and "I love yous" and
Love that felt like home away from home
It was a family.

Other Brain Vomit

I'm really not a poet at all, nor am I very sentimental, but I really wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate the love and support that has been provided to me through the IB program. I truly felt like I had a place where I was always welcome, even when I was hangry or stressed or sad. I knew that someone cared, no matter what. High school is not easy. No matter how many episodes of Degrassi we watch or how much we feel like we've really got it figured out, we're all just trying to figure ourselves out. I guess my advice to anyone who's reading this would be to remember that it isn't just you. You're not the only one who doesn't have it all figured out. You're not the only one who feels insecure or unsure or who's feeling a little ugly. Everyone feels this every once in a while, we're just good at hiding it. Make sure you surround yourself with people who think you're beautiful inside and out, even when you didn't wash your hair after swimming that one day and maybe smell a little like mildew. I wish I had more mental capacity to fathom the love that I feel for you all, so that I could put it in an eloquent, Melanie Berriman-esque, way, but the best way for me to put it is that you guys rock. I can't wait to see you all do amazing things and become doctors and professors and actresses and McDonald's employees of the month. Whatever you do, in the famous words of Mrs. Lauren Genesky; ready, set, go.

Blog #14: What a Wonderful Writer Walt Whitman Was

Step One) Walt's journals are very interesting. They remind me of an abstract piece of art, with random phrases and words strung together to make an aesthetic page. If you read the words out loud, they don't necessarily make sense, but they sound right. Furthermore, Whitman draws several pictures of a man with a beard in different contexts. In one the man is wearing a hat, in another, he is shaded rather darkly. This reminds me of Jekyll and Hyde for some reason, maybe a bit of duality? This would make sense, as Whitman was writing during a time in which his ideologies were not popular. Many of his drawings are dark or abstract, such as a skeleton. This reminds me of Tim Burton. Finally, Whitman references many geological points of interest. For example, he writes "Old England," crosses it out, and then writes "Old England" again, only before crossing it out. I feel like this is characteristic of Whitman's desire for equality and one united world made of many different people.

Step Two) It is interesting to think that Whitman admired Abraham Lincoln as much as he did. Though it makes since, Lincoln and Whitman both advocated for equality, to different degrees, I don't see Whitman as the type to look up to someone. He seems the type to consider Lincoln as a friend or a colleague more than a role model or celebrity. The most interesting part, to me, is the skeleton. I think of Whitman as an eternal optimist, like Gatsby. However, the skeleton sketch makes a negative commentary on the future of America. As the sun sets, the skeleton shrugs at his pierced heart, almost as if the skeleton is Lincoln and the heart is the "democratic experiment." This sketch is uncharacteristic of Whitman, and I'm not sure if I like it.