(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.

Evelyn Glennie Shows How To Listen

The thing I will remember most about her video is how well she could 'hear' her music. Even though she was deaf, she was able to play and hear music extremely well by feeling the vibrations and tones through every inch of her body.

When I listened to her play I felt like the music was the only sound in the world. It was like that's all there was and it was all that mattered at that very moment. I think the main contributing factors to the vibe of her music were her body motions, facial expression, and clear connection with the instrument.

The dynamics of her music is what created the different tones that the audience was able to hear. She did that by either softly brushing the mallets against the wood, or pounding hard and putting emphasis on other notes.

When she says everyone experiences music in their own way I think she means with both playing it and listening to it. When playing, everyone puts their own style into the piece they are playing. When listening, each person has their own completely individual preference as to what type of music they like. I think both of these things depend on a person's personality.

*Below are the original notes I took in my brain book right after watching the video.

-What struck you?

She was deaf, but she could still feel the music and with that skill was able to play beautiful music.

The way she taught everyone how to feel the music through your body instead of just hearing it with your ears.

I enjoyed how her accent reminded me of a character from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

-What did you notice?

She got really into her music playing.

You could really tell she was hearing the music through every inch of her body when she was playing.

She said that she always needed to know the reason why she was being told to learn something.

-What did you enjoy about her performance? Be specific.

How you could feel the musical tones flowing out of her.

Sustainability Visits

1.) What is your name and your role here at the Farmers Market?

"My name is Janet and I am a vendor here, selling for my company Grammy's Granola."

2.) Why do you choose to sell here?

"After six months at my job I had had several pay cuts that decreased my salary to the point where I couldn't live off of it. I was in my early fifty's, and single, and I needed to figure out what to do with my life. What do I want my life to look like? What's important to me? I knew for a fact I wanted to be outside, somewhere or something outdoors. So at one point I was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, and all of the sudden this idea came to me. I remembered how comforting granola snacks were to me when I would come home from a tiring day at work, and just how happy it would make me. I thought, maybe I can bring this joy to other people! But I had to find out if I would really be able to sell my product, so I got together with a bunch of my girlfriends and asked if they would really pay money for what I was selling, and they did! Afterward, somebody suggested the Farmers Market, and so I tried it out and I've been here ever since. I absolutely love it, I get to wear jeans to work, I work with positive people, and I make more money than I ever made working at my other jobs. I love my life, it's perfect."

3.) When did you first start selling here?

"Seven years ago."

4.) Do you garden at home?

"No, not really. Nothing that has anything to do with what I sell here. Just small things, that's all. I do buy locally though."

5.) What would be your advice to get others to do what you do?

"Not so much as advice to get anyone to do what I'm doing, but more as general advice, I would say to do what you love. It's never too late to reinvent yourself."

6.) Have you seen a change in the number of people participating as shoppers and vendors here since you've been here?

"Yes, definitely. There are a lot more vendors and costumers."

7.) Have you noticed a change in the products that are beings sold?

"Yes. It has gone from mainly seasonally grown food to everything imaginable. All kinds of original organic and creative products, many of which are great for the environment, too."

*My Reflection*

1. What struck me about this Farmers Market was the vast variety in products being sold. It wasn't anything different from my other visits to this Farmers Market, which happens to be a common visit for me and my family, so there wasn't anything really unexpected there.

2. A lot of the jewelry was surprisingly cheap, while a lot of it was also very expensive in comparison to your average jewelry shop. I think the reason for them being more expensive is because they are all hand made, but I think a lot of it might be less expensive because it does not have to be shipped in from far away locations.

3. I think I will continue to make my weekend visits to the Farmers Market, I really enjoy all of my experiences there.

4. I think this relates to the concept of living more sustainably because these locations promote things like organic, locally grown, and healthy food, which is a big part of our culture. These places can also be a big step toward convincing people to live more sustainably because it shows that it doesn't take very much even to just get started.

Talking these ideas out.

-Food Inc.-

One of the things that struck me the most about Food Inc was how really when you see all the different brands' and companies' labels on food, but it all really comes down to a few major companies that are running the whole food packaging system.

I do not agree with the fast food companies and their demand for every burger to be processed and modified to whatever necessary extent so that every burger (or whatever meal) tastes the same no matter the location of their costumers' purchase. This is because I think it is unnatural and unhealthy to have to genetically modify any kind of meat, especially when the only reason for it is for taste satisfaction.

These don't just apply to the real world- it IS the real world. Sadly this isn't some story or metaphor you can simply compare to the real world. This is really going on in the real world all around us today.

My family says that they have no idea the conditions all the to-be-slaughtered-animals were so bad, that everything connected and was relatable to the food system of today- even something like illegal immigration. They also agree with my thoughts on how there are really only a few companies involved that control the food (mostly meat) manufacturing, and that these few companies have a monopoly over the production and manufacturing.

My Ishmael (School Daze/School Daze2) Dialectic Journal

Quote:
"So the idea is to give the impression that you understand everything, whether you do or not."
(Page 58)

Response:
This quote strikes me in general because it is stating something so obvious and accurate, but I have never heard the concept so simply put! It is something that I'm sure the majority of students in our country feel, but until now, I have yet to come across a statement that explains so thoroughly and at the same time so simply how students across America feel.
I find it an interesting quote, however, because it doesn't just relate to students. The way I interpreted it is that it applies to anyone that is, as Ishmael puts it, a part of our culture. Really, that means anyone who abides, deliberately or obliviously, to the system our culture has created for itself.
This quote raises a few questions for me, questions like, Why do you all go for this? Why do we all just agree to this method of giving the impression that we do understand things when a lot of times we really don't?
I think the point the author is trying to make is how we just go along with our culture and its ways, when we should really take a step back and look at the big picture of 'why.'
I would like to say my reaction to this quote it something like 'Wow! How lazy can people get- agreeing and pretending to understand out of sheer laziness and apathy!' Unfortunately, I myself am guilty of this crime. It is not others I have to blame, it is me. I am just as guilty of this as many other people in our culture, and even though I do know about this concept of giving the impression of comprehension when untrue, I can't say I've done much about it.
This makes me a little bit sad because I know that I'm not oblivious, but sometimes I either just don't know how I can make a difference in our culture and its system, or don't want to give up enough of my own possession's- mental as well as literal- to do what I need to. This is also the situation many other people are in as well.