PostSecret

I was absolutely fascinated by this site and the idea behind it. (Makes me wish I would have thought of it.) I noticed that it seems to have evolved artistically from the simplicity of writing on a post card to writing on NetFlix envelopes and photographs. It was very interesting to see how people have taken a base idea and transformed it as their own- sometimes helping to reflect their secret concretely and other times abstractly.

At my college we have a bulletin board inspired by PostSecret. One day a photograph of a sunset was posted. Written across the photo in white ink it said "sometimes I wonder if anyone would care if I didn't wake up in the morning".

A few weeks later another photograph was posted. This was a photo of a sunrise. In white ink it said "yes, I would". . . I wish I could tell the person "thank-you" because the sunset was mine.

After reading this, I sat for a while because it was profoundly moving. I wonder if the creators of this project ever imagined the effect they would have on others all through just sharing a secret on a post card.

A Brief Companionship (Limerick)

A snake and a mouse became friends.

A bond no one could comprehend.

But once dinner came,

Things weren’t quite the same.

The friendship had come to an end.

This Past Week...

Welp, I have a lot more going on in my life this week than a a few weeks ago. My grandma has been in the hospital for the past week. Her progress has been up and down. One day she's doing fine, and the next she's on life support. There's no need to feel bad. She's 93 years old and has been trucking along like a trooper. I would say she has lived a long, fulfilled life. This past weekend my brother was admitted into the hospital. He was diagnosed with a staph infection in his leg. The hospital tested the infection, and it in fact, returned positive for MRSA. He spent the entire weekend hooked to an IV that fed antibiotic through his system. After disinfecting the whole house, washing sheets and towels, and throwing out the bar soap, he is home recovering. My aunt and cousin from Oregon arrived in town on Saturday to visit for the week since grandma (her mom) is not doing too well so we have opened up our house to them to stay at. All and all, I'd say its been nothing short of boring for the past couple of days.

Here's to a snow day on Wednesday!!! Wear your pajamas inside out for me Tuesday night!!!!

Winter Haikus

Bitter, cold night wind.
Blowing with no sympathy
and unforgiving.
__________________________________________

Softly flowing down,
white ice crystals from the sky
blanketing the ground.

Four Poem Picks

My First Best Friend by Jack Prelutsky kind of reminds me of a Shel Silverstein poem. It was playful, humorous, and had a punch line at the end, reminding me of last week's class discussion.

The Dancer by David Tucker evoked me to visualize an image while I was reading. This was a poem I re-read a few times in order to make sure I understood each line. There was one line that particularly appealed to me. Tucker described the dancer spinning as 'a blue rose on a nail,'- The blue pertaining to the color leotard the dancer was wearing which the author informed the reader of in the beginning of the poem.

Summer Job by Richard Hoffman was a piece that I could not understand how it was considered poetry. It seemed more like paragraph exert from a book. As my schooling went on, I became more familiar with many different types of poems- free verse, non-rhyming, distinctive line structures- but this particular poem caught me off guard. The entire verse is dialogue from one person. I feel like it had an underlying message, but I had a hard time figuring it out.

The Catch by A.E. Stallings I feel might still have me puzzled. When I first read it, certain lines in the poem made me think that it was about a husband and a wife who had a child and the child was putting a strain on their relationship. Then I re-read it and felt that maybe it was not that simple to understand (poems always have me critically analyzing them since they can be so complex at times.) Other lines did not fit with my interpretation. However, I still feel as though the poem is about a couple who is struggling with their relationship. What that struggle may be, I have not yet determined. Or maybe my original interpretation was correct and I am just over thinking it...

My Inspirations

I am mostly inspired when I draw. It will usually just hit me and I think I must draw this. Most of my inspiration comes from life's precious miracles: babies. They are loved immensley and are usually the center of someone's world. When I think about capturing that image on paper, I anticipate the emotion that the recipent feels when they first look at the finished product. I am constantly taking pictures of my baby cousins and drawing them as gifts. It is a gift that I know will always be treasured.

I am quite bias to the pencil when creating art, but when I am inspired to use color, the inspiration usually comes from flowers. Georgia O'Keefe's artwork are great examples of peices that inspire me. They are so bright, vibrant, and life-like. They are absolutely breath-taking.