TPOL - June 2010.

Welcome!

1.) Art Electric Project

2.) Hero In My Eyes Project

3.) Spanish Book Project

4.) Baja Orphanage Trip

Baja Orphanage Blog

For One World Week 2010, I went with a group to work at an orphanage in Mexico. As the only freshman in the group, I started the trip not knowing anyone. Luckily, everyone on the trip bonded very quickly and we all became a family. The main purpose of the trip was to work and help out at Rancho El Milagro, an orphanage in Baja California. We worked there every day for five days. The main thing I learned there was that you can donate as much as you want, but there is no donation like giving time. Spending time with all of the kids was amazing. I learned more Spanish, I learned how to cook some new foods, and I learned that we can have a good time and learn from each other even if we don't fully speak each others' language.

Above are some photographs of the house we lodged in, the children at the orphanage, and the good times that we had.

(Final Frame Photo & Final This I Believe Piece)

My Pursuit of Happiness

Going in the opposite direction of what most people say in order to achieve what really matters to you can be risky. It is shaky ground for a person only used to what they know. It reminds me of so many adults in my life who do their job because they were told they were good with numbers, or that they would make the most money here or there, or even that their only option was to take over the family business. It is a dismal moment when someone realizes they should have taken those chances and tried to succeed with what they love to do in life.

It is important that you know your aspiration truly does give you the joy you yearn for. I immediately connected to a man named Merce Cunningham as I read an article about him. He had it right when he talked about his passion for what he, himself, loved to do. He said, “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.” He sure knew what he was talking about- he knew what he loved to do, and he knew he would do anything to be able to do it.

Dancing is a way for me to get away- this, Cunningham and I have in common. The world around me vanishes like flour being blown off the tip of a spoon, like a dandelion’s tendrils breaking free when wished upon. I don’t know what I would do without that escape. There are people I know, though, that think it is just a waste of time to dance. I’ve decided to ignore those people. Dancing is what I love, and I will undertake the necessary risks to successfully thrive in my pursuit.

Throughout my life I have been told to take risks when life throws you chances and opportunities to do what you love. My mom in particular has always been supportive in this realm of my future. She often makes reference to her favorite Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken. He wrote,

‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.’

What purpose is there in life other than to do what you love? If it means going against the grain, then so be it. I will take the risks and chances, and I will strive to do what I love in life. I need to make the most in life. That means making myself happy, even if I have to work to get there.

(Haikus REM)

She wakes up one day

Knowing her life’s in ruins

Just sixteen years old

 

Remembers age twelve

When so much of her life changed

Now she remembers

 

All too curious

Has a lot of potential

Knows not where to start

 

She wonders, what now?

Is there any hope for her?

Can she change her world?

 

She reads the paper

And finally finds an ad

She thinks, it’s for me?

 

It says, ‘need student’

‘A student willing to learn’

She knows, it’s for her

 

Meets a gorilla

Who somehow can talk to her

And gives her some help

 

There’s another man

His name is Alan Lomax

Who could this guy be?

 

He’s always just there

Looking right at Ishmael

I feel quite jealous…

 

Ishmael isn’t his

Ishmael belongs to me

He’s my Ishmael…

 

He says he can show

How she can save her culture

One step at a time

 

It will take patience

To listen to my stories

You must start to learn

 

He starts with stories

With A’ and B’s, Awks, and Bawks

And many others

 

All analogies

Of our past and our future

To help her to learn

 

The future is hers

She must learn how to change it

To save her culture

 

…

 

I am Ishmael

I give her all my wisdom

Julie needs it most

 

But then there’s Alan

I tell him my stories too

But does he have hope?

 

Before going away

Alan wanted to keep me

But that can’t happen

 

I needed to go

So I had to lie to him

Julie got me home

 

To put my wisdom

To any sort of good use

She has to act now

 

She is the last hope

She needs to show others how

To save their culture.

My Ishmael R.E.M.

-Project Description-

This assignment was a follow-up to the book we read in class called My Ishmael. We were given a list of different 'Reading Enjoyment Maximizers (REM)' to choose from. These were supposed to be fun ways of reflecting on or adding to the story.

-Process-

First, of course, we had to read My Ishmael. After that, we each chose which REM we were going to do. I chose to write a set of haikus about Julie and Ishmaels' journey together throughout the story. That, however, was not the original idea I was going to use for the REM. At first I had planned on writing a short story from Julie's mother's perspective on everything that was happening in the book. I changed my mind because I was interested in sampling different types of poetry instead.

Once I started writing, it just all seemed to fall together, and it actually ended up flowing a lot better than I had expected in the beginning.

-Reflection-

I learned the correct way to write a haiku. I also learned how to write brief poems from different peoples' perspectives and still have it all flow nicely together.

The main challenge I faced was having to decide which REM to do, and then having to switch ideas from the writing piece to the poetry.

If I could change something about the way I worked, it would be to have spent more time looking through each REM choice to decide which one to use. If I had spent more time on that maybe I wouldn't have had to switch ideas in the middle of our work-time.

This will help me in future projects with time management.

-Artifact-

To read my set of final Haikus, click HERE.

This I Believe Project

-Project Description-

This is a writing project. It is inspired by This I believe, a writing entry contest held by National Public Radio. The assignment is to write a 400 to 500 word essay about something you believe. We also are creating black and white silhouette images of our side profiles. Once we are finished with both the writing piece and the profile image, they will both be displayed together in a frame.

-Process-

We started by making a list of 30 things we believe. They didn't necessarily have to be serious things we believe in, they could range from things like 'I believe in God' to 'I believe I could eat pizza every day for the rest of my life because I love it so much.'

After that brainstorm, we chose what belief we were going to each write about. The belief I wrote about is 'I believe in taking chances when life gives you opportunities to do what you love.'

-Reflection-

I learned a lot about myself and my beliefs during this project. I had never really put into words the things that I believed in, and actually writing them out taught me a lot more about myself than I had expected from this project.

My biggest challenge was deciding what belief to write about. There were already 30 ideas for me to choose from because of the brainstorm we did, but even still it was hard for me to choose which belief I would actually be able to back up in a writing piece.

If I had to change something I did during this project process, it would be the list of 30 things I believe in. I feel like I didn't spend enough time working on it, and maybe if I had spent more time on it I would have had less of a hard time choosing which belief to write about.

Knowing this will help me in future projects because I know now that even though it might be a pain to spend that extra amount of time on the brainstorming, I will benefit in the end because I will have less work to do later.

-Artifact-

To view a photo of my final frame and to read my final This I Believe piece, click HERE.