Interview on Beliefs

Untitled from Claire W on Vimeo.

At the end of the year.....

Authors note: This closure piece is a reflection over the past two years I have been in middle school with Mr. Johnson. As much as I look forward to high school, part of me wishes I could stay in middle school just for the sake of still having Mr. Johnson as my English teacher.

As cliché as it sounds, it is difficult to see how my two years of middle school have passed by so quickly. It is easy to remember the night before my first day of seventh grade -- nightmares about being late to class running through my mind. The teachers were welcoming and helpful to the nervous seventh graders, but I still went home crying and hating middle school. Yet being able to enjoy middle school is not the only way I have grown.

On the first day of classes fourth hour held a surprise. Gone were the teachers who expected you to do the assignment exactly step by step. No more was I in a classroom where teachers held my hand as I completed their self-created projects. I had Mr. Johnson now.

Two years have past and without a doubt I feel prepared for high school. When looking at the poster in this room above the Speak cabinet, those qualities seem to describe how I feel about my writing. I have gained the ability to read and understand novels more independently than when I walked in as a beginning seventh grader. Literature now seems to hold so much more depth than it did before for me. So now as I look forward to high school and the freedom to come, I am excited for the chance to learn more.

There may be time

Authors note: When I wrote this piece, my inspiration was someone who I love that as time goes on, may spread us apart. I wanted the reader to imagine somebody who they love that could possibly be taken away from then.

There may be a year

Or two or three

But there may be a day

Left for just you and me

We may have a lifetime

To celebrate what we love

But there may just be time

To wait for the above

Your childhood will be missed

The comfort you once gave

It will never be forgotten

All the love I will save

So now as we wait

For time to pass by

Live well and live all

Promise you'll try

Don't Forget

Authors note: After Mr. Johnson mentioned how the older you get, the faster time seems to get. This suddenly made me realize that each school ends sooner and sooner. Before long we will all be graduated, but will we always remember each other? I tried to make the lines longer in the end to show how sometimes we just want moments to last in life.

Don't forget that laugh or smile sitting

That empty silent seat beside

Those common faces so bare and dull

are they still alive?

Don't forget those awkward times with others

The ones you often wish away

They remember them just as well

did they feel the same way?

Those times and days when all was bleak

Yet one smile, a joke made you laugh

Those sitting there right beside

did they take joy in that grin?

Don't forget those single days between

The endless single hours

And at the end you all were cheering

how long did that last?

How long did it last before you remembered

The photos stained with your tears

You remember those times you wish you'd forget

did you finally?

Remember the love and the pain and loss

The death that you felt inside

Those ones that you hated unrelentingly

do you miss them?

Remember those times you laughed and smiled

Those days when nothing would bring you down

And the people you were with who witnessed it

remember them

Recording of Emilated Poem

http://voicethread.com/share/1972202/

Saison d'Autumn

Author's note: I tried to write this poem in french just to see how hard it was. Below it is a translation.

Link to voicethread

Avec les feuillages des coleur brilliant
et arbes des verte terre
Je regarde le mou et belle saison
devenis le froid hiver

Translation:
With the leaves of bright color
and trees of green earth
I watch the soft and beautiful season
become the cold winter

Finally Truth

Authors note: This poem represents all the lies that had been told to Truman. There are two quotes that the director of the show said in the movie that showed his need for control over the show and Truman. I incorporated both of them into the poem. Also, the last line was not spoken in the movie, but it seemed as though it should be assumed.



O're the ocean he traveled to see
that which had made him what he be
That which has almost been his death
And that which then gave his breathe

Of all the lies ever was told
He had never been all that bold
To have such courage for he was scared
For what beyond the world shared

He accepted the world as it was given
Not over the bridge had he ever driven
For water had stole from him a dad
One who was sheltered from all sad

The water that once had been his life
Began to cause him such a strife
His father was gone and what to become
but a heart that had gone cold and numb

And so as secrets began to unfold
The truth that once had never been told
Was finally spoken for all to hear
"In my world, you have nothing to fear."

Yet fear was what had caused this show
His need for control had made him so
And as Truman opened the door
I'll never come back again he swore