A Little Poetry In Me

     Last week in class we were told to write about poetry. I immediately rolled my eyes at this task, as I'm not very interested in writing or reading poetry. I know that poetry is a way of expression, but I've never quite been so good at putting my big thoughts into such fluid and easy rhymes. I'm always open to new challenges, and after giving it some thought, I had decided that I wanted to create something that I was going to be proud of. Not just something that was going to give me a good mark. To get inspiration, I headed to YouTube.
     While browsing one of my favourite YouTuber's channels, I came across a spoken word poem she had written entitled 'Skinny'. Dodie Clark is the owner of the channel 'doddleoddle', and is known for her covers and original songs.

     After watching this video, I found the inspiration I was looking for. Writing my first poem came easier than I thought. The other two quickly followed, and I realized I was actually enjoying writing poetry. Although I may not be the best poet, it's something I think I will continue to try once in awhile in the future. I've gotten past the stigma that it has to rhyme or be super symbolic. Instead, poetry can be more free and creative than that. The story doesn't have to be hidden away in some symbolism; it can still be told. 

Our Education System Is Broken - Sorry.

     In my (almost) 14 years of school, I have come to learn one thing more clearly than anything else I have ever been taught: our education system is broken. When I say sorry, I mean to all the students that have been told that they are too dumb to continue on with something they are passionate about, and sorry to the teachers that are forced to teach something that they do not feel passionate about themselves.
     The fact that I'm being told that I control all my results, is personally just a lie that I'm being fed to ensure that I don't blame anyone else except myself. What I find especially disappointing, is when I try my hardest but am still told, "You know, you could have done a lot better if you put more effort into it." (Something I have been told countless times- last time being last week) Excuse me? I put my heart and soul into that, and the fact that I'm being graded on my creative efforts by a teacher who wants nothing but perfection is dissatisfying to say the least. I'm not perfect, and neither is my work in any teacher's eye unless I do it by the book.
     When I got a bad grade in math last year, of course I was to blame. No one would dare blame a teacher who is forced to teach curriculum in a dated, boring way, even if everyone else in the class was barely passing.
      The truth is, the best way to get a good grade, is to not do your work in the way you want too, but instead, to do it the way the teacher wants it. If you feel strongly about a subject but it isn't what the teacher wants to hear, then write about something else. If you describe the scent of a person as nostalgia but are told to change your phrase to a scent that exists (although what you wrote made perfect "scents" [that was a pun] to you) then you must change it, unless you want a bad mark. No disrespect or anything, of course.
      I would say that ninety-nine percent of the time, teachers pick favourites. It's just what happens. When this happens, the teacher will take all their effort into making sure that the student is thriving in the environment of their classroom and that they get where they want to go.
     The only time that I have ever met an instructor's expectations while following my own interests, is when I can read about a subject and then rephrase it to exactly what the teacher is expecting, and then slapping my work on a poster board that I have painted to fit the subject. The work is relevant to what the teacher wants, but what is seen was my own work. Something that I wanted to do.

     In Finland, students learn happily. By high school, they are fluent in several different languages. I know this because this is what my friends tell me over Skype. Teachers enjoy their work. Testing isn't about memorization but actual forms of knowledge. Teaching methods aren't outdated, but instead, they are keeping up with current times and teaching methods. They help them to get jobs in fields that interest them. The learning, is paced to their needs and they enjoy what they're learning.
     I think it's time we get to those things; things that matter to teachers and students alike.

#SorryNotSorry

"Be As A Bird"

     Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802 in Besancon, France. He was passionate in expressing himself through literary and visual arts. Victor was a poet, playwright, novelist, visual artist, statesman and a human rights campaigner. He is best known for his novels 'Les Miserables' and 'Notre-Dame de Paris' (known by English speaking men to be 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'). I found it facinating how long I've been inspired by his quote: 

"be as a bird
perched on a frail branch
that she feels bending
beneath her, still she sings
away all the same
knowing she has wings"

yet, I had never bothered to look up who actually wrote it. To my surprise, the author (Victor) is actually very well known, and now inspires me with his art as well as his poetry. Victor has over 4000 drawings that he kept mostly to himself. Van Gogh and Delacroix are two well known artists artists that had the pleasure of seeing Victor's work. He would share his art with close friends and family, but it is believed that if he shared it with the public eye, that he would have outshone artists in his century. Victor only drew as a hobby and didn't want to overshadow his literary pieces with his artwork. 

Le Rocher de l'Ermitage dans un paysage imaginaire ("Ermitage Rock in an imaginary landscape")

      To me, his quote on being a bird means that you have to believe in yourself. Sometimes you're placed in tough situations, but you have to perservere. I can relate this to my writing as well as my art because sometimes in the middle of working on a piece, I decide that it's not good and that I have to scrap it. I know that all artists get writers or creators block but when you were so inspired to start something and then in the middle of working on it, it becomes a chore or a disaster, it is very discouraging. In times like those, for me it is important to remain as a bird. I have to believe in myself and learn from all experiences, knowing that I can pick myself up and create something better. A bad piece of work is still better than one I did not even attempt to do. I know that Victor will continue to inspire me in the future; now with not only his poetry, but his art too.