Humanities Portfolio 2012
Looking back at my writing from this year, I really see my growth as a person. I formulated many opinions about how I view things and really solidified them with my research and classwork. I’m proud of every opinion that I have formulated from my work this year, and with this portfolio I hope to show some of the things i’ve learned.
Coming out of your shell, being open about your opinions, and getting out of your comfort zone really help you become more confident. One of the things that taught me this was a project called Art in the Open. Art in the Open was an incorporative movement project that we were assigned to do, we were given professional choreographers from the Leah Stein Dance company to work with. We had to make an incorporative dance in a specific environment, and I could tell by the lack of excitement and the mild annoyance on the faces of my group members that our project was going to be uncomfortable, but I was far from right. Stepping out of your comfort zone in front of people you aren’t familiar with, or people in general seems to be the worst possible situation for a 16 year old, But after a few days with this project my expectations totally changed. I felt proud to say my group had grown immensely. We all just sort of jumped out of our shells and began doing crazy dances and sharing our ideas, and much to my surprise we didn’t argue much, we worked really hard. The Leah Stein Dance Company members really helped expand our imaginations and took us into a new world of art. I remember thinking to myself “wow, this is really great” while finishing up our incorporative dance in the peaceful garden with people watching us. I was so confident with the movements, we all were. After our performance, I decided that people are afraid to experience foreign things; but if you never step out of your comfort zone, you will never know.
One should never be afraid to show who they really are. Whether through poetry, or writing, or singing, or speaking up. Marjane Satrapi’s book Persepolis was a huge contribution to my thinking in this way. The book Persepolis is not only a completely original autobiography of what it was like growing up in the iranian revolution, but it really gives you a feel for what Ms. Satrapi is like. One thing I noticed about her writing is that she seemed completely open about every mistake and detail that had happened in her life, which made her brave in my eyes. She was proud of what she’d been through to become the incredibly talented person she is today. She and Suheir Hammad really taught me what it means to be an independant woman.
One of the perspectives I wrote from was Hilary Clinton who was for the Pipeline. I personally was not, yet I wrote my monologue from her voice. “We need this oil, we need this fuel to ramp up our economy” I said from her perspective. (monologue link) Writing through someone elses perspective can help change or solidify yours, it helps you weigh different options before choosing one. Overall I was really proud of the work I did this year, I hope to continue expanding my learning throughout my years of highschool in the same creative ways we had the chance to do this year. To check out some of my journal entries from History and English click Here, Here, and Here. To check out my poetry portfolio click here.
Coming out of your shell, being open about your opinions, and getting out of your comfort zone really help you become more confident. One of the things that taught me this was a project called Art in the Open. Art in the Open was an incorporative movement project that we were assigned to do, we were given professional choreographers from the Leah Stein Dance company to work with. We had to make an incorporative dance in a specific environment, and I could tell by the lack of excitement and the mild annoyance on the faces of my group members that our project was going to be uncomfortable, but I was far from right. Stepping out of your comfort zone in front of people you aren’t familiar with, or people in general seems to be the worst possible situation for a 16 year old, But after a few days with this project my expectations totally changed. I felt proud to say my group had grown immensely. We all just sort of jumped out of our shells and began doing crazy dances and sharing our ideas, and much to my surprise we didn’t argue much, we worked really hard. The Leah Stein Dance Company members really helped expand our imaginations and took us into a new world of art. I remember thinking to myself “wow, this is really great” while finishing up our incorporative dance in the peaceful garden with people watching us. I was so confident with the movements, we all were. After our performance, I decided that people are afraid to experience foreign things; but if you never step out of your comfort zone, you will never know.
One should never be afraid to show who they really are. Whether through poetry, or writing, or singing, or speaking up. Marjane Satrapi’s book Persepolis was a huge contribution to my thinking in this way. The book Persepolis is not only a completely original autobiography of what it was like growing up in the iranian revolution, but it really gives you a feel for what Ms. Satrapi is like. One thing I noticed about her writing is that she seemed completely open about every mistake and detail that had happened in her life, which made her brave in my eyes. She was proud of what she’d been through to become the incredibly talented person she is today. She and Suheir Hammad really taught me what it means to be an independant woman.
We studied Suheir Hammad’s poetry in class and I was completely taken aback by her presence when reading her poems, and the flare she added to her writing that distinguished her from other poets. We were given the opportunity to meet Suheir Hammad in school and have a private session with her, and I signed up to go. I can only say that she truly inspired me to keep creating, and writing, and expanding myself throughout life. She told us that whatever we felt, we should turn into writing. That anything could be turned into writing, and even if we ever had to start from scratch it didn’t mean that we should ever give up. I was truly inspired.
What I ended up realizing was a quote that I found in one of my earlier journals in which I said “Originality is when everything has been done before. Then you become free to be whoever you want.”. Basically, what this means to me is that you should be comfortable in your own skin because life is too short to worry about being the first to try something, it’s a good thing to let your creativity shine through.
One of the major opinions I formulated was from our many global studies this year, which always made me question the systems/situations we have going on in the world. “Everything we do impacts the earth in some way” was a quote from one of my journal entrie. I remember when I was younger, I always cared about the earth to a large extent. Looking back at myself when I was younger I realize just how little I knew. One of the assignments that really educated me about the things being done to the environment was something called “The Pipeline Monologue”. This assignment was about an oil pipeline that would go through Canada and into the U.S., but was not necessarily safe. Me and a partner made videos and wrote monologues from the perspectives of different people involved with making the pipeline. In doing this, we got to formulate our own perspectives after having tried to have seen the situation from approximately 5 different perspectives.One of the perspectives I wrote from was Hilary Clinton who was for the Pipeline. I personally was not, yet I wrote my monologue from her voice. “We need this oil, we need this fuel to ramp up our economy” I said from her perspective. (monologue link) Writing through someone elses perspective can help change or solidify yours, it helps you weigh different options before choosing one. Overall I was really proud of the work I did this year, I hope to continue expanding my learning throughout my years of highschool in the same creative ways we had the chance to do this year. To check out some of my journal entries from History and English click Here, Here, and Here. To check out my poetry portfolio click here.
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