Through November, we’ll be featuring weekly student bloggers
from APU’s Creative Writing Workshop. Mei Mei Evans tell us, “The students
run the gamut of age and background and are a lively group. We hope that
49Writers blog followers will enjoy their posts!”
from APU’s Creative Writing Workshop. Mei Mei Evans tell us, “The students
run the gamut of age and background and are a lively group. We hope that
49Writers blog followers will enjoy their posts!”
Jennifer Baker: Catching Stars
The
common term for someone of my nature is “control freak.” Someone who folds
their underwear and must always be on time every place they go, detesting the
slightest amount of chaos or group confusion. I suppose it’s because I am a
creature of pure habit despising interruption. Yeah, I’m a little weird. I
admit it. But take it or leave it, that’s me. Ironically, I am the oldest of nine siblings and although they tend to drive me crazy, I would never trade my life in
for another. Although, on those rare occasions I tend to lose it, I pour my emotion
and heart into writing—my one true love.
common term for someone of my nature is “control freak.” Someone who folds
their underwear and must always be on time every place they go, detesting the
slightest amount of chaos or group confusion. I suppose it’s because I am a
creature of pure habit despising interruption. Yeah, I’m a little weird. I
admit it. But take it or leave it, that’s me. Ironically, I am the oldest of nine siblings and although they tend to drive me crazy, I would never trade my life in
for another. Although, on those rare occasions I tend to lose it, I pour my emotion
and heart into writing—my one true love.
For as long as I can remember, the
family motto has been to “get yourself out there; experience life to the fullest.” So here I am, seventeen years old, enrolled in my second year of college as an Early
Honors student, loving the mere fact that I am treated as an adult and not baby-sat by my teachers. People ask me why I started Early Honors my junior year and not
my senior year. I only smile and tell them I hated high school. But the whole
truth is I understand that I am responsible for the outcome of my life and have
no one else to blame if things don’t turn out as planned. Being in control of
my life, I invest in my education as a key
element to my future success.
family motto has been to “get yourself out there; experience life to the fullest.” So here I am, seventeen years old, enrolled in my second year of college as an Early
Honors student, loving the mere fact that I am treated as an adult and not baby-sat by my teachers. People ask me why I started Early Honors my junior year and not
my senior year. I only smile and tell them I hated high school. But the whole
truth is I understand that I am responsible for the outcome of my life and have
no one else to blame if things don’t turn out as planned. Being in control of
my life, I invest in my education as a key
element to my future success.
Most
people’s reaction is to tell me I should go into to the medical field and
become a doctor, but I am an aspiring writer, with hopes and dreams to be able
to write like Vladimir Nabokov and to sing beside Kristen Chenoweth (Broadway
singer). Although you may think otherwise, I have every intention to make my own
dreams come true, despite the obstacles that life will toss my way. A good friend once told me to “shoot for
stars and if they fall, catch them in the palm of your hand, don’t let them slip
through the crevasses of your fingers, because if you truly believe in your dreams
you’ll find away to make them happen.”
people’s reaction is to tell me I should go into to the medical field and
become a doctor, but I am an aspiring writer, with hopes and dreams to be able
to write like Vladimir Nabokov and to sing beside Kristen Chenoweth (Broadway
singer). Although you may think otherwise, I have every intention to make my own
dreams come true, despite the obstacles that life will toss my way. A good friend once told me to “shoot for
stars and if they fall, catch them in the palm of your hand, don’t let them slip
through the crevasses of your fingers, because if you truly believe in your dreams
you’ll find away to make them happen.”
Cecilia
Frank: On the Surface
What
is it when you end up staring in the mirror for ten minutes, trying to figure
out what’s wrong with you? Does it make you shallow, to be looking at the
reflection, the surface, and trying to draw connections between it and your
problems? Trying to find parallels between the image and the meaning?
is it when you end up staring in the mirror for ten minutes, trying to figure
out what’s wrong with you? Does it make you shallow, to be looking at the
reflection, the surface, and trying to draw connections between it and your
problems? Trying to find parallels between the image and the meaning?
Isn’t
that what art is? How can we look at a person and say, “Don’t judge them by
their appearance,” then turn around and judge a piece of art? Artists are said
to be the deepest, most profound, most complicated minds. The ones without the
shallow, petty, tiresome views of this world. Then they express these complex
perspectives through what we can see, hear, and touch. We sense the world in a
visual, sensory way. This is how those deeper emotions are tapped, those
feelings and those thoughts that would otherwise be unreachable.
that what art is? How can we look at a person and say, “Don’t judge them by
their appearance,” then turn around and judge a piece of art? Artists are said
to be the deepest, most profound, most complicated minds. The ones without the
shallow, petty, tiresome views of this world. Then they express these complex
perspectives through what we can see, hear, and touch. We sense the world in a
visual, sensory way. This is how those deeper emotions are tapped, those
feelings and those thoughts that would otherwise be unreachable.
Writing is words on paper, translating
the physical world into a code. Why is such a simplification of nature, of
life, of the joys and pains of existence permitted to exist when its basis is something
so condemned? Judging by appearances, putting stock in the casual observation.
Writing contains a world of knowledge, and it is something that exists only on
the surface, but has meaning behind the image.
the physical world into a code. Why is such a simplification of nature, of
life, of the joys and pains of existence permitted to exist when its basis is something
so condemned? Judging by appearances, putting stock in the casual observation.
Writing contains a world of knowledge, and it is something that exists only on
the surface, but has meaning behind the image.
How is the human body any different? If
twenty six black and white symbols can represent the intelligence of the human
race, why can’t the surface of a person represent the rest of them? How else
would we know how to behave, how carefully to step around them, how eagerly to
dive into an awareness, if the surface of a person did not tell us something about
what was inside? We aren’t hand crafted pieces of art, but people say that nature
holds meaning. When were we excluded from that?
twenty six black and white symbols can represent the intelligence of the human
race, why can’t the surface of a person represent the rest of them? How else
would we know how to behave, how carefully to step around them, how eagerly to
dive into an awareness, if the surface of a person did not tell us something about
what was inside? We aren’t hand crafted pieces of art, but people say that nature
holds meaning. When were we excluded from that?
Just as art means something. Just as
our creations are a representation of something more profound than the surface,
why can’t we be a physical representation of the idea of ourselves?
our creations are a representation of something more profound than the surface,
why can’t we be a physical representation of the idea of ourselves?
Jennifer Baker is an Early Honors student at
Alaska Pacific University. Her hobby is creatively writing about anything that
springs to mind. She also likes to inspire imagination by spending a great deal of my time
exploring the great outdoors.
Alaska Pacific University. Her hobby is creatively writing about anything that
springs to mind. She also likes to inspire imagination by spending a great deal of my time
exploring the great outdoors.
Cecilia
Frank is an almost-adult who never writes anything when she is fully awake and
has serious difficulties with following the rules.
Frank is an almost-adult who never writes anything when she is fully awake and
has serious difficulties with following the rules.