Tuesday, April 7, 2009

"Why is education important?" essay for an application, thought AM mgiht like it :)

Young girls in today's society are very susceptible to suggestion, especially girls in the inner cities. They not only have to listen to what is thrown at them by television, magazines, movies, trendy books, school teachers, parents, and by fellow young girls, but they also have to try to figure out what is wrong and what is right. So how do we prevent all this information from confusing and corrupting the young girls of our country? The answer is education. In schools and at home, girls need to learn that the education provided for them can carry them much further than anything else.

Girls need to learn they are equal to boys. They can learn anything boys can learn and can succeed just as easily. Girls need to learn confidence and self-respect, self-esteem and self-worth, all great qualities that often come through learning experiences at school. Girls can also learn these qualities through historical examples of great and powerful women like Queen Hatshepsut who had to pretend to be a man to be allowed to rule Egypt without a husband; Joan of Arc who single-handedly led the French army in several victories during the Hundred Years War; Queen Elizabeth I of England who founded the Church of England and led England into a Golden Age of prosperity; and Marie Curie, a Polish physicist who made great breakthroughs in the field of radioactivity. These women were proud of who they were, sure of their goals in life, and stood against much adversity because they were women. They used their knowledge to achieve their goals and to better this world. Women today are still learning to reach their goals, still learning they are equal to men, like the first female president of Argentina to be elected: Cristina Fernandez. She came from a humble family and a small city but she used her education in law to become the first elected female president of Argentina. She uses her power to better her country and her community and not for political gain, she uses her education and her caring heart to improve herself and an entire nation. If President Fernandez can do that, than our girls in the United States are capable of much more, if only they would appreciate the power of education.
Public schools offer state provided education with some of the best trained teachers in the country. Education provides girls with endless information and opportunities to grow, not only as students but as people. Education gives girls confidence and the knowledge to do things they could never dream of before. In school, girls learn more than just class lessons, they learn compassion for others, selflessness, integrity, self-respect, trustworthiness and humility. If girls could take advantage of these life lessons and realize that their education is the most valuable tool they posses, then the girls who think they have the leas amount of impact on their communities will bring forth the greatest changes in the world.

Friday, April 3, 2009

the one day it snowed

as the winds of winter blow past, the gentle snowflakes float by
drifting sideways, slanted, upside down, turning and turning
past the trees, through the branches, over the hoods of parked cars
resting on warm schoolhouse windows as wondering students watch
distracted from their lessons, awe and wonder on their faces
snow flurries changing directions, whirling in circles
resembling a maelstrom, riding the waves of the not so gentle wind
curious little snowflakes, as different as you and me

Insanity .... what comes from babysitting

Slowly losing my mind

marble by marble


bit by bit by bit



screw by screw




now it's all gone

The surprise poem from Latin class (unrevised and uncut) sorry if it makes no sense

"Love is what I feel when all emotion is drained out of me and I think of you"

always there when I need you
holding my hand through it all.
I've never had to ask
you always know when I need comfort
you are always there for me
holding my hand through it all.

through sunshiny happiness,
through thundering anger,
through the unceasing rain of grief,
through despair and confusion,
through bubbling excitement, always
holding my hand through it all.

You keep me safe, sane, and happy
I am always happy in your arms
no matter what I'm feeling
because I know that through it all
you'll always love me for me
for who I am and for who I'm not.
I know no matter what goes wrong in my life,
you'll always be there to make it right,
I'll always be happy in your arms
because nothing could take away
the happiness you give me,
even if it wrong to be happy
according to the societal conventions
of the current moment, I can't help it
because you make me feel so happy when you
hold my hand through it all

Today

I found my old notebook with all the poems I've written since 8th grade. Some of them were very interesting to read while some were just plain embarrassing to think I had ever written something like that. I think I may be posting them regularly over Spring Break ... yes, I will. I'm looking forward to writing more during the break and I also wrote a new poem today, reflecting on the past few months. It kinda just flowed out and when I looked down to the Latin grammar review test I was suposed to be taking, there was a giant blue poem all over it ... hehehe, that's Ana for you ... Anyways, I think this blog is haunted cause everytime I log on, my first post has a new font ... very weird, I still believe it is haunted by some sort of electronic poltergeist.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Finding My Beliefs

Finding My Beliefs
As a child I had no beliefs. I lived by what was repeatedly dictated to me by my parents and my piano instructor. Things were either black or white, either I was wrong or I was right. My piano instructor sat me in front of the piano keys every Thursday, saying: “Play me a chromatic scale,” I simply obeyed and played. She became angry if I missed a note and would make me play the scale until it was perfect; somehow, I could never get it quite right. For eight years, I believed what others told me to and never questioned them. I believed in a black and white world where I saw no shades of grey because, to me, they didn’t exist.
I had my first head-on collision with grey in the fourth grade. I had joined the chorus and found that there too I had to warm up with that dreadful chromatic scale. If the teacher would have let me drop out, I gladly would have done so; except she wouldn’t allow it. Three weeks later I was standing by the piano, singing “Down by the Bay” while she accompanied me. Her hands suddenly smashed into the piano keys and images of Beethoven flashed through my mind as she declared: “Your voice can have more than one sound, and I don’t mean note wise. I mean tone.” Odd, I thought, but interesting. By taking her advice, I learned to appreciate music and art from new angles. I had found my grey.
For the remaining two years of elementary school, I remained in the chorus, learning to control the tone of my voice and finding grey in the very places I thought it couldn’t exist. But, I did not realize until I entered the orchestra that colors existed behind the grey. My teacher was a perfectionist. “Play it right,” he always said, “or we play it again.” I became annoyed, and found myself disagreeing with him constantly on the way he told us to play; eventually I built up courage to talk to him after class and ask him why there was only one was to play “Jingle Bells.” Reeling with laughter, he brought out a copy of the music and pointed a million ways to play it but the composer had left absolutely no room for interpretation so we were limited to play it just the way we had been. Disagreeing, I brought out my violin and showed him that the song could sound happier if only it was quicker. He smiled secretly, letting me know I was right. Through orchestra class, I found a whole spectrum of colors hiding behind the black dots on the pages, and everywhere else too. All I had to do was look.
As time goes on, I purposely search for the hidden colors and other ways to broaden not only my mind, but the minds of others, because I believe that an open mind can find colors in the bleakest of times.






D.A.T.I.N.G. ... and feeling overly sappy

Diving into those sweet pools of obsidian darkness
Aiming to be nearer to you, missing your heart beat
Thinking about your mellifluous voice floating in air
Imagining why on earth it didn't happen sooner
Not caring that it's raining and I'm soaking wet
Giving you all of my heart

02/18/09

Dedicated to Colin, a great friend and musician

nothing comes from empty thoughts
food offers no comfort

tears give only more confusion

Music, only Music, heals.


note by note, sad chords,

serene melodies, and sweet sounds

offer the only solace

comparable to the embrace of loving arms.


a cold numbness surrounds me,

fatigue and fragility,

unstable thoughts and tears.


tears that come and go,

gripping my heart with unrelenting grief,
but I can find no solace, no relief.


empty words on paper will fade in time,

harsh light and unbearable darkness,

nothing can help except for the sweet sounds.


lovely violins and calm baby grands,

smooth six-strings and angelic harps,

melancholy horns and mourning woodwinds,

within them I am lost, forgetting,

forgetting everything and remembering nothing,

nothing except for the sweet sounds

calming the tides of pain and grief

and bringing me peace,

like a pair of loving arms,
wrapped tightly and protectively

around me, surrounding me

in love and comfort.


sweet Music, play, play for me,

help me forget and remember,

play for me, play,

play, sweet Music, play.


~~~ written March 28th, 2009, in memory of Colin Green