February 2018
#1.
Behind The Bully: created by Camdyn (1), Caitlyn (2), Nathan, and Amal
This pantomime (3) was presented in the school when they were asked to construct a work based on what they wanted to express about the world. They expertly displayed the life of two people, one a bully and the other the person who got picked on at the same time mirroring some movements. The bully was being abused so they abused others. Personally, my favourite part was when the bully was shown hurting the other child and the parent was shown above instructing the movements like a grand puppeteer forcing the movement of limbs from their helpless marionette. The tones were dark and severe churning together to allow the performance to be heart-wrenching and realistic. I could use this as a start of a storyline to show further into the life of the bully and their turning point (displayed at the end) and how they undertake the rest of their life. For example, (sticking with the somber themes) the friend who got them out of the trance their parent made them see, dies and how the bully might spiral back into that life of being blindfolded to their deportment and being malicious.
#2.
The Bright Sessions: a podcast created by Lauren Shippen
This podcast is described as “if the X-men (4) went to therapy.” It shows the individual sessions a few characters with one specific therapist to help them deal with their abilities (i.e. an empath, time traveler, a telepath, and eventually a mind manipulator, and a dream walker). In time their lives intermingle because of seriously rising implications to form a bigger plot connecting everyone because of their terrific talents. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the episodes and because of that, I can be inspired to write from those characters or base my own characters off some of the traits I find admirable.
(1) Check out Camdyn’s creatively crafted blog at http://paperhearts.edublogs.org/
(2) Go view Caitlyn’s celestially captivating blog at http://satelliteinorbit.edublogs.org/
(3) A performance established through gestures and music accompanying the play
(4) A reference to MARVEL’s comic books and cinematic acts that display individuals who have developed special inhuman abilities
The Bright Sessions image: http://www.thebrightsessions.com/
March 2019
#1.
ARCS: A podcast created by Jordan Adika
This podcast is surrounded by three characters: Larkin, Barri, and Jackson who have been immersed in a plotline created by Jordan Adika. They are doing this be having a really amazing time playing Dungeons And Dragons (D&D). In D&D the Dungeon Master (DM) creates a fictional world and gets the players to create characters to be put in their realm to perform a certain task. I was inspired by their rich storytelling (which they are doing an incredible job through this podcast). Based on this I can write a story about a group playing D&D who will eventually get thrown into the game instead of mundanely playing it (kinda like in Jumanji (1)). It would use the rules of D&D on how the characters can react in certain situations. The DM, however, would not be sucked into the game and they would be in reality either trying to figure out how to get their friends back or they would be the antagonist and they made the players go in there on purpose to try and orchestrate their death or something along those lines.
#2.
In class, we came upon a quote which I really enjoyed so I emulated it. The original quote is as follows:
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is the nobelest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest.” -Confucius
I emulated it in this way: By three methods we may learn love: First, by innocence, which is the sweetest; second, by appreciation, which is the easiest; and third, by loss, which is the the cruelest.
I don’t normally write about love and that type of thing nor do I like emulation, but I found that I was proud of this piece of work. Even if it wasn’t the best writing I have ever done, at least I steered towards my true feelings in my emulation enabling me to make it my own; which is also why I don’t love emulation writing since I feel like I’m stealing something from the author and contorting it to my own whims by completely disregarding the original idea.
(1) A movie originally directed by Joe Johnston which adopted the idea of the film based on the children’s book (of the same name) written by Chris Van Allsburg. The newer movie directed by Jake Kasdan shows the characters being sucked into the game to reenact the plot of it instead of playing it in the normal fashion.
ARCS image: https://arcspod.com/
April 2019
#1.
Home a poem written by Warsan Shire
Home
By Warsan Shire
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here
This poem was written after the picture of the boy in the red sweater shown dead was circled around. (If you do not know the picture I am referring to this is the link but viewers may find it disturbing: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/shocking-image-of-drowned-syrian-boy-shows-tragic-plight-of-refugees#img-2 )
This poem shows one issue of the world today and many lines hit me hard with emotion. By using this as inspiration I could also write about an issue that is part of our world today and do a piece about that. For example, I could write about racism, poverty, lack of education.
#2.
I came across this quote in class during a seminar on the writer on Markus Zusak, the quote is as followed:
“The consequences of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.”
-Markus Zusak, The Book Theif
I like the themes of the positivity and negativity so I wrote two poems that let me play with those ideas as well. They are as follows:
I
Getting back up is a waste.
Never will anyone say,
You are the light in the darkness.
If you really want to be something special remember:
You have to persevere.
But you can’t.
You will always be their lifeless and helpless on the ground.
(Now read the sentences from bottom to the top)
II
Love is a poor person’s fantasy.
Never let anyone tell you,
be my happily ever after.
It will
Leave you bleeding.
Leave you alone,
It will never
Be your knight in shining armour.
It will always be like this.
(Now read the sentences from bottom to the top)
May 2019
#1.
Hamlet: A Ghost Story Directed by Craig Hall
Through school, I had the opportunity to witness this play at Vertigo Theater which was amazing! All the actors did an amazing job embodying their characters and the use of stage lights and few props was very well done. In this play, Hamlet (portrayed by Ahad Raza Mir) said the line “Smile, smile and be a villain.” This line stood out for me and I was thinking I could use it as a basis of a character. For example, they would the protagonist and throughout the story, they would be seen as a hero type. However, on the last little bit (last chapter/paragraph) the reader would be shown that they are actually the villain type by maybe showing the character commit mass genocide and having other characters fear them.
#2.
Bow View Manor Interview with Ben
I got to go to a senior home through school to interview people there. My partner was Tina (1) and we heard the stories that he had to tell. He was a football coach and he and his wife worked at the same school where they met and I thought that was pretty cute. Maybe I could do a poem that reflected how they met (since I’m not sure how they met I’d make it up) by using Ben and his wife as my inspiration.
(1) Go check out Tina’s hauntingly beautiful blog at http://breathingpreta.edublogs.org/
June 2019
#1.
Choir Night at my school
At my school, there was a choir night which I performed at (with the rest of the choir) and since I joined halfway through the semester this would be my third or fourth performance but this one was by far my favourite. My mom came to see it and I remember feeling so overwhelmed with happiness because at the end of it she said that if I did some stuff over the summer then she would allow me to do it the next year. This was incredibly inspiring for me because she is the one who usually has to pick me up from practices and after a long day, it started to get quite tedious for her so I started feeling a little guilty. She has always been there for me whenever I needed her and she always lifts me up. She said the performance made her feel happy and I was overjoyed! With this as inspiration, I could use it to write a piece about it and give it to her on her birthday.
#2.
Writing Seminar Quote using the author H.P. Lovecraft
The quote is as follows:
“I have looked upon all the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me.”
I was inspired to write this:
Darkness welcomed the light willingly, yearningly but the light was repulsed by the darkness, the light had always hated the dark after all. So the dark started to fester in on itself becoming a void, becoming the nightmare everyone always feared it to be without giving it a second glance. The light was too proud and that was why the dark would always win.
Feature Image: http://gillmarketinggroup.com/2015/07/21/dont-wait-for-inspiration/
