In humanities, we have started to write poems. This year, I’ve written 4 poems. One of the poems that I’m very proud of is a haiku. I really like writing haikus because they are short and very specific. This is my haiku:
The crisp autumn breeze.
Wind whistles through the branches.
Leaves fall to the ground.
The main challenge of writing this poem was syllables. I wanted to have other words, like instead of ground I wanted to say pavement. Since you can only have 5 syllables, then 7, then 5, I had to find away to work around extra syllables. Autumn is my favorite season, so it was fun to write about that.
The other poem that I am proud of is called Glass Ceiling. I wrote this poem with Margaret. We have submitted it to the NYPL contest. This is the poem:
They’re standing up there,
Triumphantly
I wonder,
How did this happen?
If I had been born differently, would it be different?
Would I be triumphant?
Instead of sitting here,
Watching their success.
That should have been mine.
Why are they standing there?
Not even breaking a sweat,
While I’m down here, sweating hard,
Earning 79 cents to their dollar.
I would raise my voice if I thought it would make any difference.
But as I look up at them, and they work ignorantly, I realize,
They feel no remorse for me,
They only care for their own prosperity,
That could have been mine.
They say I’m not working hard enough,
Deep down, I’m wondering if it’s true,
If they really are working harder than I am,
And as I sit beneath them,
I ask myself why,
I’m looking up at a glass ceiling while they look at the sky.
I really like this poem because it sums up my feelings on the subject of sexism. That is one of the things that I love about poetry. Sometimes I feel like I can’t talk about some subjects out loud, but then when I write poetry about it, it seems like it’s easier to talk about. One challenge that I faced while writing this poem was words. For example, there were plenty of times when we wanted to use “glass ceiling,” but we also wanted to save that for the end, to make it more powerful.
I am really proud of all my poetry, and I can’t wait to write more!
Have you ever wondered about what makes up you nail? The structure of the nail is very simple.
If you look at your finger nail, you will see that part of the nail covers your nail bed and part of your nail that sticks out.
The part of the nail that sticks out (the white part of your nail) is called the free edge of the nail. The part of the nail that is covering your nail bed is called the body of the nail.
Some of the functions of the nail:
- The free edge of the nail makes smaller movements more precise. For example, if you were picking up a needle, the free edge of the nail would be useful.
- The body of the nail is helpful because it protects the sensitive finger tips. It also allows the fingertips to be more sensitive.
- The unula is actually under your nail, if something/someone hurts the lunula, your nail will be deformed.
This year in humanities, we have been writing creative writing pieces. This is one of my favorite pieces that I have written. I like it because I think it is a really good example of my best work. I like writing about things that could never happen to me. I used descriptive language and show don’t tell.
I woke up, rubbed my eyes and turned off my alarm clock. It was 5:00. Another morning in New York. Work. I sat up and dragged myself out of bed. I felt like a slug, but I had to go to work. I put on my light blue t-shirt and slipped into my black legging. It took what felt like 12 hours to walk the short hallway to the kitchen to get myself some breakfast. My back still ached from yesterday, when I had done 6 back handsprings in a row. My kitchen was barely big enough to move in. I absent-mindedly rubbed the calluses on my hand as I took out the frying pan. Even a simple task like cracking an egg hurt. I sat down at the table with my fried eggs and toast. I felt a soft paw brush against my foot and I sat up straight, as I always did when my cat, Mittens, said hello in the mornings. I picked her up and put her on my lap. She was all white with grey paws that made it look like she was wearing mittens.
“Hello, Mittens. How was your night?” I asked softly. She meowed in response.
Suddenly, I glanced at the time. It was 5:15. I had exactly 15 minutes to brush my hair, brush my teeth, put on my shoes, walk 6 blocks, and take the E train 9 stops to my job. At 5:30, my normal group of early tourists would come and I would perform for them. If I missed that slot, the next slot would be at 6:00 and the tourists then weren’t as friendly. I did all of the tasks in record time and made it there by 5:39. Luckily, the tourist were still there, looking around Washington Square Park. I did a few back flips and a few back handsprings, which hurt so much, like someone had twisted my back into knots. I put down my Mets cap and waited for people to fork over a few coins and help me get a decent dinner.
Suddenly, it started raining. Not just drizzling, but pouring. I grabbed my hat and sprinted to the closest awning I could find. I watched people rushing by, with the first things they could find to keep them dry. I slowly turned around, wondering where I was. The first thing I saw was a diamond necklace. It out shone all of the other jewelry by far. It looked magical, just sitting there. I looked in closer and suddenly I banged my head against the glass. As I was rubbing my forehead, I caught a glimpse of someone. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. All I saw were two piercing green eyes. They seemed to glow in the dark store window. Suddenly, an old memory came to my mind. One that I hadn’t thought of in years.
I was standing by a stream and my childhood best friend, Jane, came running up to me. I was just looking into the stream, as if something had just swam by. I just remember seeing a glint in the water. As soon as I saw it, it was gone. Jane took my hand and we walked back to the house together. She had the same green eyes as the person in the store.
I shook my head and the eyes were gone. I must have imagined it. The rain had stopped, so I tentatively took a step out from under the awning. The ground was slippery and I couldn’t work, so I decided to just go home.
In art, we made felt collages for guilds. I really like mine because I think that it shows what my guild is (Medicine Guild.) and who my character is (Midwife.). 
In art, we made really cool geometry patterns. We picked a graph and made a pattern on that. We colored it in, then cut out the pattern. Finally, we glued it all together again. I really liked this project because it had a lot of detail.
In art, we made medieval illuminated letters. I think that I did a really good job and I love the way that it turned out.
It was really hard to water color the background of the Z, because I had to go around all of the details. It took a long time, but it ended up looking really good.
