Bard on the Beach Alternative Assignment

1. According to the test I am a visual learner.
2. If someone were to ask me if I was a physical or sedentary person a few months ago I would have said no.  Last year I was a much more active person as I ran around 2 km every day while taking breaks on weekends.  This stopped after a few months because I got lazy and became unmotivated.  In the past few months I have started weightlifting training and I am becoming more active again which makes me very pleased as I know this healthy lifestyle will benefit me.  
3. Thinking about how exercise and having a healthy lifestyle upgrades one’s cognitive skills is very interesting because looking at my intelligent friends, I can see that many of them are very active people.  I think it’s good that some schools are putting more emphasis on physical education because not only will an active lifestyle make your cognition go up, it will be good for your overall mental and physical wellbeing.  
4. With finals coming up I am becoming more and more stressed, but every year everyone has to go through the same thing and it helps to know that i’m not the only one freaking out.  For next year I want to listen to lots of music and becoming more proficient with the guitar as well as maintaining a healthy grade average.  To reach these goals I will practice guitar every day and attempt to listen to lots of different artists.  For my academics I will try to procrastinate less.

Self Publishing Poem Project

   

Comfy Cocoons

How nice it would be

To lay in our comfy cocoons

All along

The lazy afternoons,

And perhaps when we feel

When the time is right

We can take off

Into the future with flight,

Because what real use

Is it to stay at home

In our comfy cocoons

All alone.

      The two main methods I focused on for this project revolved around self publishing through advertising and speech.  Since I was putting all my time and energy into only two methods I wanted to take each one to a whole new level.

     For advertising, the video below shows me travelling all around UBC as I attempt to place a poem in every single faculty building.  As for speech, I wanted to speak with every custodian in each 

building about my poem and see what they had to say about it.  I 

got different results from everyone I spoke with.  Some were not interested and told me they were busy with work while others happily read my poem.  There was even one custodian that became angry with me when I tried to talk to him about my poem.  I was quite intimidated at times, but I made many new friends with the nicer ones and i'm very content with that.

     My favorite building that I went to was definitely Allard Hall, the UBC faculty of law.  There was a very kind old lady who worked the evening shifts at the building and was kind enough to read my poem.  The best part was the positive feedback, she told me how she loved the simplicity and theme of it.  We quickly became acquainted and we spent some time afterwards talking about miscellaneous things.

     I have met many different characters along the way of this self publishing journey and I am sure I won't be able to remember all of their names, but this English project has allowed me to become exposed to various personalities that I otherwise would have never met.  Showing them my writing was a very scary thing to do but i'm satisfied with the feedback (and denials) I received.  All in all this was a very interesting experience and I hope I did not bother the custodians too much.

Click here to watch the video

Poem: Empty Like My Wallet

Your scream sounds like a crisp dollar bill

like broken glass flying

like a bullet of water slicing

through a crusty rock

like a mushed soda can

like the fragments from a shattered marshmallow

like rock beating scissors

like paper losing to scissors

like an empty ATM machine

like an overused fireman pole rotting

in the empty station echoing forever

like the fan from an overheating laptop

like an untuned guitar

like a terrible movie that lasts forever

like an explosive pillow fight

like a barrage of bowling pins haunting

a lone bowling ball

like the popping oil from a frying egg

like a baseball punching a mitt

like the feedback from an overly experimental song

like a crying chili pepper

like bad Christmas decorations

like a cast that doesn't fit properly

on your swollen ankle

like a fruitless workout

like a fruit that looks like it has worked out

like the crash of a mighty cymbal

like an empty wallet

like the jingle of your tennis racket

like an awkward USB stick

like the scream I heard when riding the space needle elevator

as we ascended above the vast metropolis

Poem: The Inflated Balloon

So much depends

upon

An inflated

balloon

Clutched by a

child

To give him a

smile

Poem: The Metaphor

A poetic response to The Metaphor by Budge Wilson

Looking for the perfect guy is like running on a treadmill
Putting the speed on slow isn't very productive
But having it on high takes a lot more energy
And makes it a lot more dangerous.
Starting out with the pace that fits you is the best choice
And eventually as time wears on
We can gradually increase the speed to more challenging levels
Up til the point where we reach our final goal

Or until we fall flat on our faces.

Poem: The Hollyhocks

A poetic response to "The Sound of the Hollyhocks" by H. Garner 

The Hollyhocks
They speak to me
They inform me
They connect with me

The Hollyhocks
They are speaking
"Never go back" they whisper
They are right
Never go back

Never.

Poem: The Decision

To kill everyone

Or to spare some lives for few

A choice will be made