poetry wars |
During this project our classes were split into two groups of 15. Individually we created Chapbooks filled with poetry, as well as an art piece representing on of our poems. Then as a group we had to put together a gala to show off our work. This was entirely done by students, including finding a venue, entertainment, correct decor, and refreshments. Below is the process.
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Chapbooks:
Chapbook are little books that our filled with poems and only poems. Each person was required to make a minimum of 5 chapbooks. For my chapbooks I decided to something a bit more complicated than just paper. I decided to make mine bounded with rings and a plexi glass cover which you can see below. Instead of having a regular table of contents I had mine color coordinated. So each new poem was printed on a piece of colored paper and put on cardboard so it was easy to flip to. In the table of contents I had the name of the poem the color of the paper it was printed on. It took awhile to individually cut and put together all my chapbooks but in the end I think it was worth it One After Another - This poem is about foster care. My family is a foster family and we get a lot of little kids who at first don't have any language or just common knowledge that a kid their age should have. We spend a few months to a year trying to get them as caught up as possible until it's time for them to leave. Then the whole process will repeat again.
The Truth Behind Friends - When I was in kindergarten they taught us this song that said, " Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. A circle is round, it has no end, that's how long I want to be your friend. " Which is a really cute song. But when I went back and thought about it more I realized that when you put this to friendship, you realize some of it is true. Like how some are silver and others gold. But some of it just isn't, so I decided to write a poem about it. Surrounded (Poem Read at Exhibition) - Growing up with foster kids and doing girl scouts I realize that there's more than children than what you would usually think. Most of the time when you think of children you think of those little rascals that always make you smile and go crazy and those big toothless smiles. But I realized that there's those kinds of kids, and then there's also the kids who grew up struggling. Doesn't matter how they struggled whether their parents died and they had to take care of themselves or their parents just weren't there for them. So I wrote a poem about the two different types of children.
The Climb - ***WARNING*** This is a very sad poem. Growing up I became friends with this little girl. She was about 6 years younger than me and had been through a lot. She was born with a disease called Muscular Dystrophy. She quickly became one of my best friends and we'd always look out for each other. Her disease does not have a cure and once the muscles in your body start to shut down. You know you don't have much left. I decided to write a poem about her and our story.
Little Girl - This is basically a poem/story from the point of view of a tree.
Unlocking the Past*(Art Piece Poem) - This poem takes the point of view of a writer getting a specific assignment (history) in the mail. You don't know it but you go through the writers thought process and imagination while writing throughout the poem. You travel to four different places. First Time Square at the ending of World War ll. Then you are in the audience for Martin Luther King's famous, I Have a Dream speech. Then your aboard the titanic and finally you're just traveling the world before coming back to the writer's room. Dream* - This poem is about how when I was younger I would hate going to sleep. But now being a teenager I love to sleep. Just a Number* - This is a shorter less poem like version of The Climb. |
Art Piece:
For my art piece I used my poem, Unlocking the Past. Since my poem was about traveling in the past I decided to give my art piece that look. With the traveling part of my poem I thought that it would be cool to have one section of my art piece for each pl ace that I travel to/explain so I had them each in their own little frame and the frames in a collage. Creating my art piece took a lot of time, effort, and creativity but the final product makes it all worth it. My art piece will be displayed in a hotel room at the 1906 Lodge Hotel in Coronado. My Job: My job was the curator. A curator is the person who is basically the person in charge side kick. The person in charge (event planners) was just in charge of finding the venue. My job was figuring of the theme and figuring out how to get everything down there along with organizing everything and fixing any of the event planners mistakes. Our venue was over at NTC park. We thought this would be easy since it's just down the street from school and we wouldn't have to worry about going overtime. Our first theme was just to do a stary night kind of theme. Have lots of lights and just make it look pretty. But when the time change came we realized that it would not be dark enough to do this. In one week me and my partner Becca Jones had to come up with a whole new theme. Again we decided to just do something pretty so we got streamers, table cloths, center pieces, and did a navy blue and white color theme. In the end everything turned out a huge success and looked really nice! My Group Members Jobs: Becca Jones: Curator Bryan Peters: Event Planner Quentin Norris: Event Planner Madi Ho: Program Victoria Hatch: Filmographer Mark Penaran: Filmographer Areanna Casas: Hospitality Drym Davis: Hospitality Angela Calderon: Publicist Erick Aguilar: Programming and Scheduling Gavin Coshatt: Sound and Lighting Zach Allbritton: Sound and Lighting Jose Vizcaino: Food Nick Maciel: Food Exhibition Night: The Final Product:
In the end we got everything down to NTC park (our venue) and set up in time. Set up included the stage, sound system, chairs, all the tables, art pieces, chapbooks, center pieces, pop up tents, and food. I have to say everything turned out looking really nice and the exhibition flowed pretty smoothly. Program: Our program included an in depth version of what the project was. A list of the poetry reading and where we were having intermission(to look at art pieces). And a small bio for each group member including their name, job, art piece, and where they were installing their art piece. This was made by Madi Ho. Readings: Our exhibition started off with everyone coming in and taking a seat in front of the stage. We had the first half of our group read their poems and then we had a 30 min intermission. During this time the audience was able to go get food and walk around to see people's art pieces and chapbooks. When we were done we finished with the last half of our group and a final 10 minutes to look around before it was officially over. Order and Poems: Bryan Peters - Richness Zach Allbritton - The Gleeman Victoria Hatch - Hot Air Ballons Grace Donalson - Surrounded Madi Ho - There's a Monster Angela Calderon - Our Growth is What Counts Mark Penaran - The Violin Erick Aguilar - My Dad Intermission Drym Davis - Different Nature Areanna Casas - One Day Becca Jones - Where I Want to Be Nick Maciel - Our so Called Father Son Friendship Quentin Norris - Paintbrush Jose Vizcaino - The Cold Darkness Gavin Coshatt - Determination Reflection: I had never been that interested in topics like this before so like always, this project was like nothing I had ever done before. I defiantly feel like my poetry, artistic, and organization/ planning skills were increased during this project but nothing compared to creativity. In everything we did during this project you put you creativity skills to the test. How creative you are in writing poems, including a poem in an art piece, making a chapbook, and for me creating a theme for an exhibition! We were just constantly putting our creativity skills to the test which we get to do a lot at the High Tech school's but I feel like this project was just so free that I really could do anything but also had to keep it reasonable since we only had a month for the actual project building part. Overall I think this project was a huge success. My art pieces, chapbooks, and poems were all completed and very unique. All my drafts had been turned in on time and our exhibition turned out better than we could. |