Category Archives: Poetry

This is for You.

October 11, 2012, by GL

In my Counter Culture class we discussed the meaning of a shout-out/invocation poem. A shout-out poem is a poem in which the poet usually calls to and appreciates a person, place or thing. Most of these poems relate to the people who go against or are not “normal”. They speak about the forgotten, unappreciated or loved. I enjoyed being able to write a poem like this because it allowed me to get the chance to speak to all the people in my life and tell them that they are not forgotten and their actions which sometimes get overlooked but are never forgotten. In this poem I was speaking about my family and the struggles we’ve faced but how we preserver til the end and are always their for one another. My family is my life and I felt they needed to be reminded of the love I have for them and the strong bong we have as well.

Below is a video of me reading my poem

And here is my poem. Hope you enjoy!

This is for the stressed and the blessed
and others who caresses the power of love.
you certainly belong with me

For all those who put their fears in a box
with a bow on the top
and send it away.
you easily belong with me

For the people who put sunshine in their pocket for another day.
and those who don’t need sunshine to dance in the rain,

For the couple who strive to be man and wife
and have a hard time seeing the light,
And the beauty of every day life.
you officially belong with me

For the moms and the dads who’s struggles of the day
are over passed by the fast pace life they live,
and the love they always try to give

To the brothers and the sisters
and the little siblings
who’s brittle emotions are about to break
Because of the footsteps her family made her take.

This is for the simple people in life who make it worth wild
For the ordinary people trying to do extraordinary things
And the dreamers who’s minds are stuck up in the skies
you belong with me

You are not alone
And together we can become something bigger
than just you and me.

See you are not alone,
You never were and never will be
Because you belong with US.

Me, Myself & Ishmael Beah

June 4, 2012, by HT

The purpose of this Endurance paper was to meet the character (Ishmael Beah) from the book I read: A Long Way Gone . Also, to become another person, to become empty and to define who you are.

I chose to connect with Ishmael Beah because we have similar life experiences, the way how we got to USA, the way we go through our lives and how we are separated from our families.

I am proud of that today I am living in Chicago, USA with my whole family. I am proud that I can live everyday happily and never heard anymore a gun shooting and voices of people suffering. I am proud that I can go to school when a lot of children cannot go to school. I am also proud of being who I am everyday.

I learned “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi.

Here is my A Long Way Poem

One night I walked into the book A  Long Way Gone
I met Ishmael Beah in the dark forest.
We talked about our similar experiences, where we come from.

I live in four worlds: truth, hatred, peace and experience.
How about everyone not lying and not hating each other?
How would our world be like?

Ishmael Beah,
What is your world like now?

“These days I live in three worlds:
my dreams, and the experiences of my new life,
which trigger memories from the past.” –Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone

You (Ishmael Beah) and I learn our lives from the travel path.
Our experiences are not like others’
Because our experiences come from our own pain.

“In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything:
every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.” –Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone

What do we always carry when people hate us?
What do they hate about us or Why do they hate us?
We can fix what they hate about us,
But we cannot fix why they hate us.

“Some nights the sky wept stars
that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness
before our wishes could meet them. ” –Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone

“I had my gun now, and as the corporal always said,
‘This gun is your source of power in these times.
It will protect you and provide you all you need,
if you know how to use it well’.” –Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone

You need to use your weapon with your heart
Only your heart  knows how to use the weapon,
Because your heart is your weapon.

The bullets from the gun don’t know
Love and hate,
Bad and good,
Happiness and sorrow,
Children and adults,
Families and enemies…

A weapon depends on a person who uses it.
If you don’t know how to use it,
It will be used against you.

“Weapons are an important factor in war,
but not the decisive one;
it is man and not materials that counts”
(Mao Tse-Tung)

In your story, the music becomes your savior and your security.
It becomes your friends, beyond it is what you are passionate about.
It makes you smile when you hear the beats.
It makes you brave and makes you forget your pain.
It shows who you are in front of your enemies.

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

When I do what I am passionate about
I never get hungry and tired,
Because the more we do it, the more we learn it.
The more we learn it,
The more we know how to enjoy it.

Ishmael, I would like to share with you
The most inspiring quote in my life,
Whenever I am going to do something
that makes me think twice.

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West

Smart and good thinkers don’t say words a lot
But when they say
The world opens eyes,
If the Sun rises, it never sets again.
If the Moon and Stars appear in the night
The night becomes the brightest night.

Just like you say in your story book,
When you run in the night
The moon and the stars lead you where to go.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

You and me can live as this quote says from now on
We are who we are by what we do today
we believe we will be still alive
by what we have learned today
we dream with how far our possibilities lead us

Do It Yourself (DIY) and Self-Making- 8 Movements Education

February 8, 2012, by GL

My classmates and I studied Frederick Douglass’ famous lecture, “Self-Made Men.” Mr. Douglass believed that success is achieved not through luck, but by another word: work.

I checked out Anya Kamenetz’s book DIY-U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. As a result, I’m exploring education alternatives, including DIY options.

There are a number of people succeeding via the School of DIY on a local, national, and global level. Here are my thoughts on a few who inspire me.

For more of my thoughts on DIY Education and beyond, please follow me on Twitter @GCEstudent_GL and join our learning community in conversation at #GCEeducation and #GCEdoityourselfEDU.

This is my favorite tweet. View my twitter to read more!

On Enrichment Education – 8 Movements in Education

February 7, 2012, by GL

Our ‘Education in 8 Movements’ (Integrated English-History) class studied “Enrichment” as a post-secondary learning option. We examined how motivation, interest and personalized skills really help contribute to an individual success.

While studying how we learn, our class took an edutopia.org survey that revealed I’m primarily a visual learner. I’ve enjoyed learning in this manner.

My classmates and I studied Sir Ken Robinson’s The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. In striving to live a passionate and purposeful life, I’ve reflected on some things that I love to do, and things that I’m really good at.

Of course, I also love to read. Here’s a recording of me reading my favorite poem from  one of my favorite books: The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton

Poem is called Nothing gold can stay By: Robert Frost

Reading has enriched my life!

For more of my thoughts on Enrichment Education and beyond, please follow me on Twitter @GCEstudent_GL and join our learning community in conversation at #GCEeducation and #GCEenrichmentEDU.

Fighting crime one class at a time…

October 7, 2011, by GL

Crimes against humanity is a valuable class to be taking. Having the ability to learn about this you get the chance to understand the history and culture of the world as well get to see what mankind did to tear great culture and spirit down. I am able to get the chance to learn things about Chicago’s history, the world and even things about me for example the way I learn. The class got the chance to take a quiz and see what kind of learning style you had, I believe the advice given to you was very helpful and now I am able to use new techniques to help me succeeds in challenges that are thrown at me. It also teaches you about culture and how to be your own person which I Believe everyone deserves to learn, especially to be able to better yourself and to as well help make mankind better. In class we looked at the famous Picasso bulls and realized they resembled all the kids in our class, they were all unique and different and showed that they each had their own story. Which sounds a lot like my classmates. We are all different in our own ways as well as share our culture differences with the world. People pass up many opportunities for learning. We all over look the crimes and destruction can really help us learn valuable lessons from the past that we cant learn in a book as well help us all share our different cultures and our ideas. For example Maxwell Street definitely helped me better understand what crimes against humanity really is. By cutting down Maxwell street and building new fancy places for the college students to go to down by UIC, it destroyed a famous culture that will be pretty much impossible to get back. Yet i can guarantee you while these students sip on their Jamba-Juice and go into the new restaurants they don’t know what really happened on the ground they were standing on.Before all the world turned into a money eating world Maxwell street stood long and proud. The people of Maxwell street changed music history forever. The magic that was happening on this street i think is more way more valuable then any of the money producing places that are up now. We torn down a generation of music culture and many overpass how valuable and important Maxwell street was to people as well as the musicians who originally started on the this captivation street. We forget all about what culture is, now only to focus on the love for money, which I believe is a huge crime against humanity. We should be Restoring these unique places instead of tearing them down and letting them be forgotten. so hopefully by the end of this class I will be able to really appreciate my culture. I as well can enjoy the historical important places, objects and ideas that have come before me and turn them into my own ideas and dreams and share my unique thoughts with the people around me.

Island Music

October 7, 2011, by GL

Reggae By: GL on PhotoPeach

For my rhythm I chose reggae, I knew a decent amount about this organic island sound and I just wanted to learn more. Reggae has a lot of natural beats and unique vocals which produces a profound sounding genre. I tried to figure out the 5 elements of Reggae and this is what my conclusion is, the first one are the Sub-genres of reggae which are able to to turn the original reggae music into something even more unique and original with a little bit of the artists own taste. The next element is reggae’s influence that it’s had on music when it was first created and even in today’s music and culture. Reggae taught people to stay powerful and be one with your culture as well as work with the natural sounds that gives reggae that originality. The third element is movement which is a crucial aspect of reggae sound, it gives off a loose natural native feel that makes you wanna sway back and forth like the palm trees planted in the white sand along the clear blue ocean waters. The fourth element is the ruff smokey powerful tone of singers voice, this element is what makes reggae such an unique rythem. The voice has a story to tell and they sure do their voices sound rare and like no other singers now and days. The final element would be ethnic, this is an extremely important element as well. I believe that this sums up most of the elements. Reggae is known as “Island Music” written by the natives of the island. So obviously it is going to be ethnic and represents their culture. By bringing the sounds of rocks clapping against each other, the waves crashing onto rocks along the beach, the natural smoked filled voices that sing of their own stories describes the ethnicity and unique culture they come from.

Dodecasyllable is the metric that Reggae has. The beat goes UU_UU_UU_ UU this is a pretty regular simple beat. The difference that Reggae has is the home-made natural organic sound. The elements of Reggae really match up with the tone, it has a lot of simple sounds which as well can sound natural. The movement of Reggae match up with the beat and makes you just want to sway back and forth with the island palm trees. The beat of Reggae can as well become more fast beat depending on what sub-genera is picked.

This poem connects to my goals in class because as in the music of Reggae i wanna be able to branch off on my own and create my sub-genera in other worlds be able to be unique with my work and as well always remember to keep it natural and my own.

Life of the Island
Jamaican blues runs through the streets
it matches up with a special beat.
Sitting on the island sand
looking up at the sun and the land
Knowing that music here is never banned
Sounds moving up the streets
Reggae makes the trees sway to the beats
We never want this to go away
it plays all threw out the day even til the sun goes away
It may even bring you tears
Looking up at the sun in the middle of May
These songs are sung by the small bay
Watching the waves crash to the beat
Listening to a natural sound
The calming voice that we have found
An unique powerful sounding voice
a special technique they use to feel the beat
Bringing this all together as one
the people of this island know their song.

Music can’t lie

September 15, 2011, by GL