I belong to:
1. A community of Poets
2. The community of Brooklyn
3. The community of MCNY
4. A community of artists
5. A community of African Americans
6. The community of Democrats
Brooklyn:
I belonged to Brooklyn when my mother moved her 6 months pregnant with me. I strongly believe in the notion of Sankofa (You cannot know where you are going without knowing where you come from). Everything a person is made up of is Nature vs. Nurture. My environment has a bold impact on who I am and how I look at the world. Although it is just a borough, Brooklyn, is also home. Whatever that means or doesn't mean.
Artists:
The community of artists is a very strange place to belong. It kind of labels you with superpowers. All of a sudden certain things are expected of you. Every civilization started with religion and art. I do not take this lightly. I am grateful to be apart of something that is bigger than me. It allows me for once not to feel like such an outcast. A group of artists (no matter what kind) can share things that others won't understand.
Most important community I belong to: ARTISTS
1. I play a primary role of the writer and spoken artist. I voice the colors of a painter and write the images of the photographer. Every artist is important to the community. My art allows me to share and keep the community growing by also teaching my art.
2. The most important I thing I get from belonging to this kind of community is basically a sense of being. I get identity. A big part of who I am is being an artist. Belonging just solidifies that acceptance you spend your time looking for.
3. There are a lot of problems in this circle that always stem from 2 places. One would be keeping yourself and art relevant. Times change. The age old argument is whether art should follow suit. So there becomes a divide between artists who adapt and those who stick with what they know. The second problem is ego and superiority complex. Although artists can do things that are gifts it should not make you feel like you are better. A lot of artists get caught up in the glitz side and change.
-Brittany Patrice
Monday, December 13, 2010
Progress Assessment
How do you follow progress for a class that is supposed to teach you about yourself?
Maybe the answer relates to how many bad habits you have broken or new things you have discovered. If that is indeed the answer then I have been tracking my growth through this blog.
I throughly enjoyed the candy assignment as well as the career path introductions with our guest speaker. I feel that these things have helped me understand more about who I am as well as how I relate to other people. I got to interact and document the new findings about my classmates (the very people I see everyday). It allowed me to see how people perceived me. The career path introductions had me thinking more about my future. I believe after that day I constructed a 5yr plan for the first time in my life. I wanted some direction.
I didn't really enjoy the strengths and weaknesses essay for many reasons. One thing would be that it was hard to identify my own flaws for others to read let alone write it in a essay form. The other thing I didn't like was the way I had to express my strengths and weaknesses. I would have rather somehow shown what my strengths & weaknesses were than put them in an essay.
If I had more time I would work on how much effort I put into personalizing my blog and getting everyone reading it. I don't think it rightly shows my personality but I guess that's okay.
The progress I have made this semester is strongly relate back to my strengths and weaknesses. For one, I still have the same strengths and weaknesses but I did learn a little how to make them work in my favor. I didn't feel as hindered by own characteristics this time around.
-Brittany Patrice
Maybe the answer relates to how many bad habits you have broken or new things you have discovered. If that is indeed the answer then I have been tracking my growth through this blog.
I throughly enjoyed the candy assignment as well as the career path introductions with our guest speaker. I feel that these things have helped me understand more about who I am as well as how I relate to other people. I got to interact and document the new findings about my classmates (the very people I see everyday). It allowed me to see how people perceived me. The career path introductions had me thinking more about my future. I believe after that day I constructed a 5yr plan for the first time in my life. I wanted some direction.
I didn't really enjoy the strengths and weaknesses essay for many reasons. One thing would be that it was hard to identify my own flaws for others to read let alone write it in a essay form. The other thing I didn't like was the way I had to express my strengths and weaknesses. I would have rather somehow shown what my strengths & weaknesses were than put them in an essay.
If I had more time I would work on how much effort I put into personalizing my blog and getting everyone reading it. I don't think it rightly shows my personality but I guess that's okay.
The progress I have made this semester is strongly relate back to my strengths and weaknesses. For one, I still have the same strengths and weaknesses but I did learn a little how to make them work in my favor. I didn't feel as hindered by own characteristics this time around.
-Brittany Patrice
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
My Fairytale
Preface: This is a storytale about me! I am Marie. Its just well written so you will be entertained. My nickname is Blue and all of my life I have struggled with being different from other little kids. Thats when one day a woman named Tahani Salah came to my school and introduced to urbanword. A place where everyone was my age and was just as different as I was. Hope you like my fairytale. Life does have happy endings!
Once upon a time in the sleepy hallows borough of Brooklyn lived a Blue little girl named Marie. In a town where everyone is sleepwalking in black & white having Blue skin makes you stand out a little. Like everything else that jars the spirit awake Marie was ridiculed for being so different. When really she was being herself. The dungeon she lived in never saw sunlight. There were no windows in her life. Little Marie wanted so much to be accepted. She tried to change her color. Using all kind of unsafe methods but nothing worked. She couldn't help being Blue. One day while Marie was sitting on a bench crying her little eyes out she heard a voice. Drowned out by the sound of her sobbing she couldn't make out what the woman had said.
"I said, stop crying little girl for you are the prettiest person I have ever seen"
Marie replied through sniffles, "No one else seems to think so. I don't want to be different anymore" As she wiped her eyes she realized the person speaking so kindly to her was in fact a ladybug!
The ladybug spoke once again, "Come with me. I know a place where you will be loved & excepted for that gorgeous skin. A place where everyone is different in their own way".
Marie followed the ladybug woman into a building, not too far from where she lived, and up what felt like long winding stairs that went on forever. When they reached the top, Marie pushed open the door and discovered a room full of color. Or should I say colored children all laughing and playing together. Each face was jubliant and full of love and just like Marie, every child was a different color. Reds, purples, greens, yellows, pinks...so many colored children.
"Well go on now. Go play. Enjoy being different", the ladybug said as she pushed her into the children.
Soon Marie was laughing and playing with everyone else. And for once in her life felt special that she was the only Blue child.
-The End-
Once upon a time in the sleepy hallows borough of Brooklyn lived a Blue little girl named Marie. In a town where everyone is sleepwalking in black & white having Blue skin makes you stand out a little. Like everything else that jars the spirit awake Marie was ridiculed for being so different. When really she was being herself. The dungeon she lived in never saw sunlight. There were no windows in her life. Little Marie wanted so much to be accepted. She tried to change her color. Using all kind of unsafe methods but nothing worked. She couldn't help being Blue. One day while Marie was sitting on a bench crying her little eyes out she heard a voice. Drowned out by the sound of her sobbing she couldn't make out what the woman had said.
"I said, stop crying little girl for you are the prettiest person I have ever seen"
Marie replied through sniffles, "No one else seems to think so. I don't want to be different anymore" As she wiped her eyes she realized the person speaking so kindly to her was in fact a ladybug!
The ladybug spoke once again, "Come with me. I know a place where you will be loved & excepted for that gorgeous skin. A place where everyone is different in their own way".
Marie followed the ladybug woman into a building, not too far from where she lived, and up what felt like long winding stairs that went on forever. When they reached the top, Marie pushed open the door and discovered a room full of color. Or should I say colored children all laughing and playing together. Each face was jubliant and full of love and just like Marie, every child was a different color. Reds, purples, greens, yellows, pinks...so many colored children.
"Well go on now. Go play. Enjoy being different", the ladybug said as she pushed her into the children.
Soon Marie was laughing and playing with everyone else. And for once in her life felt special that she was the only Blue child.
-The End-
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)