An Uphill Battle: A Poem for Reformists

It's going to be an uphill battle,

But I would never guessed it to be - 

As I was brought to the world of helping others

By those as curious and as passionate as me.

But I need to fight through each grueling step.

I need to help the naysayers learn to say "yes".

I will push my way into the light.

I will live in a world where the future is bright.

It's going to be an uphill battle,

And I don't have much choice

Because somewhere, out there,

A confused child is waiting for me to be their voice.

As many of you know, my truest and deepest passion lies with educating children. My goal in life is to repair the broken American Education System, even if only for the 30 kids in my class every year. 

I always assumed everyone I met would agree and support my decisions as a teacher. Who wouldn't want to do what is scientifically proven to be the best thing for their children? Yet, as I continue to go through my pre-service training, the more apparent it becomes that that is a lie.

I will have to fight, tooth and nail, to support the children that I love, the children that have yet to even be conceived. 

I wrote this brief poem after a very emotional encounter that reminded me of this fact. I will constantly be fighting for my students, and they cannot afford for me to give up.

Bill Cunningham

It is strange, really, to give thought to inspiration? Where does it come from? Why is it that when it hits us, it consumes us, like a fire ready to set our very souls aflame?

I just had the pleasure of watching Bill Cunningham New York - an amazing documentary based on the humble photographer who had a passion for fashion. He never paid any attention to his own material world, instead he lived through the fabric expression of others.

As soon as the film ended, I looked Bill up on Facebook, and was deeply saddened to find he had passed away this past summer at 87 years young. I wish I could have met him. I wish I could have followed him around for a day, much like to documentary crew. I would bask in his infinite wisdom of the craft, of human nature, of mindfulness, and of New York City.

Even from spending an hour and a half with his story, I have felt a reawakening of my creative urge - my hunger to use my many crafts to connect with the Spirit of the Universe that binds every human, animal, plant, building, atom, together.

Thank You, Mr. Cunningham.

I Need a Class

I never had a class on how to interact;

Never learned the protocol for when 

I am completely lost.

What do I say when my

Friends all talk about sex

And I am the only virgin in the room?

When is it ok

To start swearing in front

Of someone else's parents?

How far is too far

When teasing friends?

And then there's texting.

That would need an

Entirely OTHER course.

Why is adding a period

To the end of a sentence

So final?

What does that

Smiley face even mean?

Is that sarcastic?

If you were right next to me,

We wouldn't have this

Problem.

I don't REALLY know

What to do when

Someone starts crying.

I can't seem to laugh

At the right times,

For the right length.

I can never decide

When someone wants

A hug or a cuddle.

I can never

Convey that I

Always want it.

I can't seem to differentiate

The difference between 

Being Mom

and

Being a caring friend.

I can't tell if he likes me

Or

My vagina.

I can never decide

If he is

Gay or not.

I'm an awful good student.

I have A's in every class.

I think my life would be a lot

Better if someone

Taught me how to interact.

"Words"

- Translations courtesy to the internet -
Do you like this drawing? Would you like a similar one? Message me or comment below!

By Bird

Things I Love

What inspires me?

As a project for class, we had to share things that inspired us

• Slip by PhillipChbeeb & Renee Kester
• “I’m a sharing addict...There is always a moment of extreme bravery involved in this question:...will you look?...This impulse to connect the dots - and to share what you have connected - is the urge that makes you an artist. If you’re using words or symbols to connect the dots, whether you’re a professional artist or not, you are an artistic force in the world”.
  (The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, pg 16-17)
• Sonic Arboretum by Andrew Bird
• “Those who ask without fear learn to say two things, with or without words, to those they are facing:
  I deserve to ask
  And
  You are welcome to say no.
  (The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, pg 303)
• Arts Integration for Deeper Learning in Middle School
• “Suitcases are interesting.”
  -Olivia B.
• Student: “Are you a slave driver?”
  Aid: “Worse. She’s a teacher.”
• “Warm-ups get us out of where we were into where we are.”
  -Suzanne H.

A Lesson in a Bird's Creativity

A Lesson Plan

Background: For this Special Topics Theater Course that I created this blog for, I had to present my independent project at the end of the semester. Seeing my project is sort of all over the place (as can be seen in my previous posts), I needed a way to find a way to unify everything for my presentation. Being a theater and childhood education major, one of the most common ways I express my creativity is through the art of lesson planning. So, I decided to create an interactive "lesson plan" for my classmates to partake in which will (hopefully) demonstrate the evolution of my creativity, as it has grown this semester.

Essential Question(s):

     What is creativity?

     How has Bird's creativity evolved throughout the Spring of 2016, due to her enrollment in TH291?

Learning Goals:

     Students will be able to:

         1. Understand how creativity is defined differently for different people

         2. Understand the importance that inspiration can play in creativity

         3. Understand Bird's process of creativity throughout the semester

Do Now:

     Think-Pair-Share:

           Students will brainstorm working definitions of "artist" and "creativity"

      How does our definitions of artist and creator differ? How are the similar?

Learning Activity:

     Human Machine - each student creates a movement and a sound, as all the students begin to group together, a "machine" is created that could serve a direct output.

     Our machine will operate using students' unique movements paired with the instructors words which define art as an act of negative energy, and again as an act of positive energy. After each circulation of the machine, Bird will read a piece she created using negative and confused energy, and then a piece she created using positive energy. Therefore making the machine's output her work throughout the semester.

Materials:

• Index cards for students to write their definitions on (one for each student)
• Index cards that have a negative word in blue and a positive word in red (one for each student)
• Print out of a piece that was created negatively
• Print out of a piece created positively

Assessment/Debrief:

     Together, the class should discuss their feelings toward each piece (being unafraid of offending the artist) after each machine cycle. 

     How does this piece make you feel?

     How do you think it would feel to create something like this?

     Which piece to you like more? Why?

A Walk in the Park

A Walk Through Central Park

October 2015

By Bird

How to Let Go - a Comprehensive List

How to let go

A Comprehensive List

By Bird

1. Scream all of the time
2. Never apologize for being too loud
3. Dance when the feeling comes
4. Wear outrageous amounts of jewelry
5. Live with the trees
6. Make friends with discomfort
7. Experience over documentation
8. Friends will always be there to welcome you home
9. Let yourself move away
10. Go somewhere new
11. AVOID ROUTINE
12. If the music isn’t right, skip the song
13. Stop telling the kids “no”
14. Say hello
15. Make s’mores
16. Who the fuck cares about a scale?
17. Experience new fabrics and textures
18. Unzip
19. Explore
20. Don’t be afraid to take your time
21. Don’t be afraid to run fast
22. Use the time you have been gifted with now
23. Do what you love - never work a day in your life
24. Try something new
25. You drown when you allow yourself to drown - learn to swim
1. How to Swim - a Secondary list
1. Don’t panic
2. Feel the water wash over you
3. Move with water and trust the water to move with you
26. Touch everything and everyone
27. What is the point, if you are not sharing positive energy
28. Appreciate differences
29. Find contrast
30. Notice small things - let them become big things
31. Be light
32. Take risks
33. Set difficult goals
34. Lay down and listen
35. Understand that life/art is about making connections, not fitting in or not being what you think is right
36. Be the only one on a beach, and be completely naked
37. Understand that everyone is over 99% the same as you
38. Understand that bananas are also very similar to you
39. Listen to the music of your body
40. Don’t disregard or discredit your thoughts
41. Don’t be consumed by negativity
42. Make yourself laugh
43. Listen to the voices of others
44. Try to climb on something when you have the chance
45. Be happy when someone else has a positive experience
46. Wonder
47. Be amazed
48. Don’t feel like you need to do something
49. Be busy without being overwhelmed
50. Appreciate flowers
51. Scream some more.

A Warm Day in a Cold City

A Warm Day in a Cold City

By Bird

Clouds move lazily through the sky

The air smelt like magic

In the way only the first few warm days can.

And the magic sparkled around me

The bird flew past and sang me a morning lullaby

And I felt connected to that bird

Because he is me. And I am him

So we sat together and he sang and I listened and I fell in love.

But then the city sounds scared him away and I was alone again.

But I am not ever truly alone

Because I know, when I go home,

There will be mountains and trees

There will be sky and stars

And that magic that only comes during special times

Will dazzle me everyday

I will wake up,

And just like an old friend

She will come to me

And wake me with a kiss on the cheek

We will go on an adventure and fly together

And fall in love with birds and toads

And splash through water with bare toes.

Together, we will never have responsibility

Except that which allows us to be free

I can feel my heart wanting to run

Feel it beating against my ribcage

Asking to be let out

But it is like when I sing

And my teacher tells me to let the sound out

And I thought I was

Because I was trying

But something was holding me back, and it is always there

Holding my back

So, now I am going to let go.

She Saw

She Saw

A spoken word poem

Dedicated to all of the big sisters of little sisters

By Bird

I used to have the best eyebrows.

They were big and bushy.

The were uncontrollable.

They were crazy and lush.

And I was taught to hate them.

I had them waxed on my 13th birthday

A Bat Mitzvah side bonus

No different than getting my ears pierced or having a party.

She was 7.

And she saw.

My mother is beautiful.

She has bright blue eyes and a perfect complexion.

More importantly, she is kind and generous.

She has a beautiful soul.

And she cannot leave the house without

A painted face.

She hates to go places without makeup.

It makes her feel like she is not put together; uncomfortable.

She was a toddler.

And she saw.

The first time I shaved, my legs felt like Heaven.

They were smooth and everything was new.

First, it was just me and my mum.

Then Jenna joined the game.

And I always say I shave for me and no one else.

Yet, I still told a boy:

“We can’t hook up. I haven’t shaved in a week”.

I feel dirty if I don’t.

She was 8.

And she saw.

Every girl in my family has such thick hair.

Some is curly, some is wavy.

But it is so full of life and personality.

I love my hair today.

It is one of my favorite things about me.

And in middle school, I loathed it.

My friends would help me straighten it.

It took hours.

She was 6.

And she saw.

I go home and see her.

She is the most beautiful girl I know.

I tell her as often as I can.

She has that perfect middle school fashion, now.

And she is as beautiful now as she was when she was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12...

So why do I only tell her now?

Where was my motivation to tell her before?

What message am I giving her?

She is 13.

And she sees.

Her hair is curly and fun.

Her eyes are beautiful.

She is youthful and bright.

She is energetic and passionate and curious and creative.

And she used to try and wax her eyebrows with tape in the bathroom when she didn’t think anyone would find her.

She has been sneaking makeup to school since Kindergarten.

She didn’t wait to be taught to shave. She figured it out on her own...a few years ago.

She wants to straighten her hair everyday that she finds the time.

I am her big sister.

And I am only beginning to see.