Week 3

This week was mostly spent working on my book. I faced many obstacles during this project, and learned much from my mistakes. This week included printing out poems and what was supposed to be painting pictures of them. This appeared to be a challenge as glue is very messy and so are paints. I spent a good six hours fiddling with glue and paints before realizing how awful they made things look. It was then when I realized that I needed to go in a different direction. It was then when the tea bagging idea was brought to my attention, and I proceeded in giving it a try. By covering the poems in tea, it gave it a sepia/aged/distressed look, while keeping things simple. This was a breakthrough in the creation on my book. With the poems in the book, i proceeded in doing the same tea process with the pictures I had chosen to represent my poems. By this morning, all of the poems and pictures had been successfully put in their proper places and the book is now finished. This week I learned trial and error the hard way. It took much thinking and planning to end up turning the book into a success. Luckily it all worked out in the end and is presentable. 

Day Fourteen.

Today was another average day of progress, with tomorrow being the last day I will need to finnish. I woke up at an uncomfortable 6:45, drove into campus, had breakfast, went to the tech lab and language department to work out frustrating tech troubles with my spanish project.  THEN, I got to work on many other things. I started by rubber cementing the extra pages in my book to make it read better. While this was drying, I edited the first 9 pages of my history paper. After drying, I pasted in the poems, and hunted for pictures. I then cut out pictures and prepped for some more tea bagging! After spanish and lunch, I proceeded in some good tea bagging, then pasting, then barbecuing, then running, then blogging. Tomorrow all I have to do it illustrate one more poem and write a title and table of contents and all that jazz. Until then....

Day Thirteen

Today was much more positive. I got up at 7 and got right to binding the book. This was successful. After spanish and history, I started tea bagging my poems. With some hot tea dabbed on the poems, I was able to continue my project and make it look much better than with paint. There are still many more questions I have yet to answer regarding images, further construction, and which poems I would like to read during my presentation. Tomorrow I plan on gluing in the tea bagged work, finding new images for the poems, adding those to the book, go over the paper I have to write for this project, finnish a spanish project, and make major corrections on my history paper. Can't wait. 

Day Twelve: Ahhh.

Today was a frustrating day. I woke up at 7, went to campus, had a spanish class, then starting working on my book. I hit a lot of road bumps working on the book today. From glue and paints making the paper wrinkle, to glue getting all over the place, to glue making everything utterly god awful, it was a long day. Glue set me back six hours, $31.00 and we are now in a fight. Tape also made my life a lot more complicated. I am now in search of a user-friendly adhesive product.  Any ideas??? But... I am now smarter from this experience and now know what to do in the future. (I should say I know what NOT to do as I am still down a trustworthy bonding medium.) After this morning's learning experience, I set off on a six mile run and a trip to the weight-room to try and forget about it. I must have forgotten that I have to spend my evening re-thinking it and writing about it. Hopefully tomorrow will be a turn around and a re-acquaintance with success. Horay for learning experiences!  

Day 11: The Creation

Today was my longest day to date! I woke up at around 7, drove into campus, and got right to work. Today I started posting the poems into the book, and adding images to them. I spent a good 4 hours today doing so. I now have most of the poems into the book, and now I must add the pictures and paint over them. This week shall be very fun yet very much work. I have extra room in my book for more work, but as of now the poems that will be featured will be: A Drought, Early Summer, Youth, Mono, The Artist, The Edge of The Earth, The Itch, The Drowning, Charismatic Megafauna, and The End. If I get a lot of inspiration of the next few days i will most certainly embrace it, but I am not going to write filler poems (sub-par work).  Tomorrow I must find water colors as I have been looking for them all day. Along with water colors, I was looking for an X-Acto knife, glue, and a special ruler, all of which were locked up in the art closet. This is very frustrating as they do no good for anyone being locked up.  Until Tomorrow, 

Week 2

This was the second week of senior project. Similar to the first, I had many struggles as well as much success. My struggle this week was finding inspiration. Last week, inspiration came easy (as did much writing). But as I continued to write, I felt myself struggling to pay attention and devote 100% into what I wanted to convey (half the problem being I didn't know what I wanted to write about). Success: Last week it was more about writing new poems, and learning the basics of editing. This week, with more written, I felt I could "pre-edit" my work and really make improvements before sharing them with Ellen. This was a big step for me as it shows I am really getting something out of this project. Knowing how to write, properly punctuate, and edit poetry is a skill I would love to have for the rest of my life. Along with my writing improving, so has my organization. I started making better use out of my binder by properly placing drafts, finished work, ideas/brainstorming notes, and other authors work into correct sections within it. The third thing I spent my time on was brainstorming ideas on my book. It started as an unclear idea of a way of presenting my poems creatively. As I continued to think, the pieces started to connect in my head and there I had my book idea. Today I am off to some stores to get supplies for the project. I am very excited. 

Day Ten: Final Poem Written!

Today was a fun and relaxing day with much time to work on my project. I started off with a nice hummus and pita breakfast and a nice walk down to Elbow Pond.  Then drove into campus, went to assembly, then continued to work. I started off by organizing all the poetry I have written, double checked to make sure its edited, and placed them in the order I would like to present them. After this, I met with Ellen, did my time sheet, and wrote my final poem of my project. I was waiting to get the inspiration I wanted (not just writing about anything) and it finally came to me today. I can't wait to finalize this one as well. The rest of senior project will be constructing the book I have talked so much about. Saturday I am going into boston to look for fun materials and designs and then getting right to work!

Day 9: Imagery

Continuing with the pattern of most days, I woke up around 7 and headed into campus for some breakfast and writing! I met with Ellen around 8:15 and edited the last two poems that needed editing. I need one last poem for my book and I want it to be perfect. This means I can't just go around looking for inspiration, but I need it to come to me. This will be interesting. After editing and reviewing work, I made a major breakthrough in the brainstorming of what images I want to show next to my poems to help create more emotion and style. This shall be very enjoyable. I also had a very un-fun spanish test. I went well. Things are shaping up very nicely.   

Day 8: Bugs and Brainstorming

Today was a long day. I started by waking up around 6:30, and into school around 7:15 today to study for a spanish test. It was long, unpleasant, and still unfinished. After spanish I went to the library to work on my history paper. Knocked out another page...4 left...After classes I went to elbow for a swim and some time to think and write. I thought of some cool stuff while staring into the tranquil reflections of the water. Unfortunately the bugs got to me so i had to leave sooner than I wished. Next was a tennis match. Boring, buggy. After tennis i wanted to think more while in nature so I went for a run alongside the Blackwater river. The bugs could not keep up with me and I was able to come up with some fun lines to write. After dinner I went to the wise and (with help) I compiled a list of things I really don't like. It started off as a joke, but then it turned into something that ended up inspiring me and giving me ideas. After returning to Mountain, I continued by brainstorming what images (from my head) I would like to re-create onto my book. I have some ideas on what mediums I would like to use to convey my stories. I spent the last of my time editing work and organizing. I feel accomplished. 

Day 7: Writing Away

Today I spent a lot of time just writing. I woke up at 7 and had spanish and history classes. After, I wrote a poem I am very excited about, and finalized a bunch more that I would like to say are done and ready to be published! This weekend I am getting supplies for my book. I think I am going to make a book out of fun materials, paste-in written work, and illustrate each poem on the opposite page. I am very excited for the artistic part of this project. After tennis and dinner I went back to mountain and sought inspiration by going kayaking on "Elbow" with Duncan. We saw many exciting nature things and heard many-a-loon. It was a very productive day and I feel much less worried about organization. 

Day Six: Learning

Today I woke up around 8:30 and headed to campus for some work. I wrote some new poetry on Rainstorms, the leisure of the summer, and the mindset of the youth. I also discussed editing strategies with Ellen and the book I will be making. I finalized my ideas and am getting supplies this weekend. I also sat through rousing history and spanish classes. Today the most I think I accomplished was deciding on plans for my presentation and editing more work I had done. I learned much about how poems are punctuated. A day of learning it was! 

Week 1

Over the past week I have learned my things about myself, my writing, and the poetry I read. Along with the things I learned, I faced challenges and was met with many surprises.  I first learned about how I organize myself. I learned I must subconsciously enjoy making my own life more difficult by my atrocious organizational skills. My lack of organizational finesse (making sure things are placed neatly in folders and without wrinkles) is something I can build upon and learn from. I have learned that my writing had grown and matured. I used to think little about what I put on paper and what I considered my best. Now, I erase line after line of work knowing I can always do better, think deeper, and write smarter with formalism, anaphora, and consonance. I have not only utilized different places around Andover, but have tried out different social settings and gathering places similar to a more abstract version of a journalist or reporter. I have also learned from the poetry of others, building off of their work. I have learned the blank verse metrically traditional writing of Robert Frost, the short yet ever so compact work of Emily Dickinson, the perfect iambic pentameter of Shakespeare, etc.   The hardest challenges I faced this week was juggling my other school work with my senior project. At times it felt like I was even spending more time thinking of the horrid history assignments in the weeks to come. Hopefully I can take from this, better manage my time...do it all. I look forward to the next upcoming weeks, finalizing work, making a book, enjoy the remaining time in high school...

Day 5: Editing, Planning, And A Lot of Sweating

Today I woke up at 5:30am to see if I could get some inspiration from Polar Swim. It was an interesting (and very sweaty) experience. As I sat in the sauna, I thought about the emotional pain my body was going through in the heat, and then from the cold water. Between the grueling sounds and smiling faces of those looking to seize the day and do something different, going to Polar Swim turned out to be a good choice for inspiration. After Polar Swim I went to the deck at Mountain, wrote some more, and then drove into campus. I spent some time editing previous work, but spent most of my time thinking/brainstorming/planning a book to put my writing into for my final presentation. I want it to be as unique and artistic as the poetry itself. I have a few ideas, but I still need more time to narrow them down. The day continued with a history class and tennis practice, followed by a trip to the skatepark to see what kind of an atmosphere it was. A successful day it was.  

Day 4: Earth Day

Today was Earth Day. Today I decided to sleep in a little and slept to 8:30. I got up and drove to campus and proceeded in spending a good 3 hours on my US History paper. After lunch, I went to the concert at the wise for inspiration. The band brought cool imagery to my head as did the students and teachers reactions. After the concert, I went back to Mountain to "jot" down my thoughts and ideas. Ellen and I made a folder for all my work, ideas, influential poems, and rough drafts (work in progress/thoughts I want to remember). By continuing to try out new places, I continue to learn more about my writing and my thought process. I wonder where I will go next... 

Day 3: The Experiment

So today was a busy day. I woke up around 7 and got to school around 730 to have breakfast, study for a history test, and edit some of my writing. After Spanish, History, Lunch, a tennis match ( W 8-O)  and dinner, I went out to a different kind of spot to write. Usually i would go to a calm, tranquil, quiet place to collect my thoughts and think. But as I have learned, not all poetry is peaceful and involving bunnies, rivers, and the man in the moon. I went to a friends dorm, and sat in on a bunch of kids playing a video game involving machine guns, blood, and canibalistic zombies. I wrote about what I saw, what I felt, what bothered me and what I liked. It was a successful experiment. I think I will continue to try to write in new areas  and see what comes to my head. 

Day 2: The Juggle, The Drowning, and The Mustache

Today I spent my time editing, writing, and juggling. Unlike my other peers doing a project, I woke up at 7 for an 8:15 spanish class. After Spanish, I met with Ellen and we discussed how a blog entry should look and how to focus on just one thing and write about it. I cleared my head and let my mind wander to a subject that was deep in the back...black flies and mosquito bites. I wrote a rough draft of a poem called "The Itch." The itch started as a poem vividly describing how the annoyance of the bug's presence is just as annoying as the itch itself. It was then when i started playing with the symbolism of the word Itch and how myself i am itching for school to end and itching for work to be done. My mind continued to wander and I started to write a poem called "The Drowning" where I showed imagery of myself drowning in a squall at sea. I am unable to take a breath of air. The is my metaphor for having so much work between SP, a 10 page history paper, and spanish that it has found a way to literally kill me.  After my writing session I had a history class and studied for a history test tomorrow on WWII. Tonight someone told me I would look good with a small mustache, similar to the one Hitler wore. This brought up the topic on how Hitler ruined what was probably a perfectly acceptable look until his reign. Those who have the facial structure to pull off this style now have one more reason to dislike the monster of a man Adolph Hitler. Someone said I should write a poem as the  voice of someone frustrated with the negative connotations this facial piece gives off (as they wish to have that fashion but know what society will say) This was interesting to me. As fun as it  could be I opted not to get further into it as i know the subject could upset people. I will try and veer from this type of humor in my writing.  This evening  I will edit my work and study for my other classes. 

The First Day

Today was the first day of Senior Project. Embracing the project, I woke up around 8 and began writing. I went out to the porch behind Mountain Classroom, cleared my mind, and wrote what came to my head. At 9:45, I left for campus for the day. After a US History class, I got a chance to meet up with my Sponsor, Ellen. We met for a while, read over my poems, and discussed what I should read to inspire me and and what I should do to make my writing stronger. I also had a spanish class and tennis.  I would have to say, the most I accomplished today was how to edit a poem and how to channel my thoughts.