"Tender Buttons" Part 1

My Original Poem

Object

Sunglasses

Shinning, shimmering, mirror like looks.

Seeing all images in different ways, seeing everything around in different ways, yet seeing it all the same.

Out of sun comes poison to eyes. Protection needed, protection granted through shinning, shimmering, mirror.

I see you, you see you.

Food

Limes

A blade of grass and a green palm leaf and a deep green sea each more definitive then the last. The brightest green mixed with a soft sun-touched green.

With tough skin, and a smell of citrus, forget the touch and taste the taste. Without touch there is only taste. Juice or solid, bite or drink, both ways to taste.

Many ways tasted many things added. Neither or better none or worse. With a touch of earths salty mineral the bite becomes less than the bark.

Brother lemon and sister orange all are cold, all are tart, yet each their own.

Room

Family Room

Centered in the heart and within the heart in correspondence to the heart. One where all those with same hearts gather. Family and friends welcome the previous always there more often.

A four wall surrounding, with 2 more to enclose, a door and windows to invite. Where we spend every night.

Bright with light and love, the lightest rose pink to enjoy with the color of wheat to comfort the body.

At the centered within the heart you can find the heart and brain of those who enter this room. For it is meant for togetherness but often enjoyed alone.

"Tender Buttons" Part 2

AFTER EXPERIMENT ELEVEN:

Object

Sunglasses

Shinning looks

Seeing same

Out eyes

Protection mirror

Food

Limes

A blade last

The brightest green

With taste

Juice taste

Many added

Neither worse

With bark

Room

Family Room

Centered heart

One gather

Family often

A four invite

Where night

Bright body

At room

For alone

AFTER EXPERIMENT ONE/FINAL POEM:

Object

Sunglasses

Looking Shinning

Same Seeing

Eyes Out

Mirror Protection

Food

Limes

Last Blade

Green Brightest

Taste With

Taste Juice

Added Many

Worse Neither

Bark With

Room

Family Room

Heart Centered

Gather One

Often Family

Invite Four

Night where

Body Bright

Room At

Alone For

"Tender Buttons" Part 3

Reflection on my version of “Tender Buttons”

To be completely honest I struggled though out this assignment. I never completely grasped the concept of Stein’s poem which made it quite difficult to write my own. Once I wrote it I was proud of my original poem, I like the way it sounds and how I simply picked the first things I saw for each section. It made me look closer at everyday objects that on a normal day I take for granite.

The first experiment I did on my poem was option eleven, where I laid out my original poem into long structured sentences then took the first and last words of each line to see what would happen. I in some instances take more than one word, because I felt words like The, A and I were not suitable words. I had trouble making columns on my computer so I printed out the poem and cut and pasted it onto another piece of paper( I could not copy and paste it this way into the blog for some reason). After experiment eleven I liked the way it sounded and looked it was a very broken way of writing which forced me not to worry about adding little words here and there, but I wasn’t quite finished yet.

From there I added in experiment one. So I took my new 2-3 word sentences and wrote them backwards. When I wrote them backwards I dropped the words The, A and I that I had decided to keep during my first experiment. I felt it would look more cohesive if every line only had two words. I kept the same order of the poem but each line was written in reverse. Once I was finished with this step I started to like the poem once again, but only in parts. There are certain lines that I love, and other which I feel lost their original meaning completely.

In the end I am satisfied with my poem, when I started this project I thought it was going to be a disaster, but it the end I like the way it all turned out. I like each version of my poem for different reasons, which really surprised me. I had a feeling like I would be disappointed. Yet now that it is finished I have a better understand of how changing the way we write and speak can really open the mind up to different ways to look at everyday objects and I used a new part of my creativity and imagination to help me see the world a little differently.

Self-Portrait Option 4

Queen of the Land

I chose to transform myself into a lion. I made a habitat that I felt like I would enjoy to live in. My habitat consisted of mostly green land, and I envision that over the mountain in the back you would find the ocean. Originally I wanted to turn myself into a dolphin or whale of some sort because I absolutely love the ocean and the beach, I feel most at home while out at sea. However I came to the conclusion that a dolphin or whale would not fit my personality. I felt personality wise being a lion would definitely be the best fit. I would consider myself to be loud with a dominate personality, and who is more dominate then the “King of the Jungle?” Not to mention when I was younger my grandma used to refer to me as her little lion cub because my hair was always really curly and unruly. I know I have a big mouth and I am a very loud speaker, my roar can be heard for miles, but I embrace that about myself and thoroughly enjoy the way people listen when I talk, even if I wasn’t talking to them. Becoming a lion fits me because I consider myself the kind of person that demands a certain level of respect from others and yet I am extremely outgoing and always looking for something new and fun to do, which in my mind is the essence of a lion. When it comes to the habitat I chose to include some flowers here and there, because honestly what girl doesn’t love flowers. I also decided to add a few palm trees, because they represent a tropical area, which is my ideal habitat whether I am a part lion or all human. I just chose to make an area and animal that best fits me as I am right now, something that fits my personality and desired place of inhabitance.

Impressionistic Self Portrait

Just Me Being Me

When creating my impressionist self portrait I used filters on Photoshop as well as oil pastels which I added by hand. There really was not a great deal of experimenting, I had an idea of what I wanted and I went with it. I printed out the photograph from my computer and began adding markings with my oil pastels. Next I slowly added more details and markings with the pastels. I made large markings with the oil pastels to mimic the large dominate brush strokes painters used while creating their impressionistic art. Once I was happy with what I did by hand I scanned the photography back into my computer and opened the image in Photoshop. There I played around with the photo until I found the exact combination of color, tint and brightness to fit my vision.

I chose a starting photograph that shows more of my personality rather than my general appearance. I love that the picture shows me, truly happy. The picture was taken after playing soccer for hours, my hair is all messy, and I am sweaty and exhausted. Often in photographs I tend to have a “fake” looking smile, but in this photo you can tell I was laughing.

Overall I wouldn’t change my appearance, I am very happy with who I am, I may not be the prettiest or the skinniest girl, but I love me. I feel a portrait where my emotions are shown is better than any generic, “look here and say cheese” photograph. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, this picture in my opinion is worth so much more than that. Every time I look at this picture I remember that day, I remember the people, how much fun we had, and how incredibly happy I was. Nothing can replace that, not even a thousand words.

Family History Comic Strip

Fresh Start

Since I have no idea where my family came from or why we ended up in Lebanon Pennsylvania I decided to focus on what I consider a significant event that altered my family’s history. Right before I was born my Papa decided to leave his business and retire, because of this the new owners of the business let my mother go. Not long after this the business burnt to the ground. It was at this instance my Papa knew how lucky he was that he had gotten out. A few days later my mom and dad welcomed me to the world. Since I was the first grandchild I quickly became my Papa’s pride and joy. When my mother had to work, my Grandparents and Aunt Brenda took turns watching me. In the end I feel truly blessed that I got to be raised by family rather than day care, and my mother finally had to opportunity to go back to school and start a new career as a nail technician working in her sister’s (My Aunt Brenda’s) beauty salon. 22 years later, I consider my grandparents like a second set of parents; I talk to them every day on the phone. My Aunt Brenda is like a third mom, whom I also speak to everyday on the phone. My mom and my aunt still work together as the only employees of my aunt’s extremely successful salon. I feel like the fire affected all my family, and in turn gave me a wonderful loving environment to grow up in. These days most people are lucky to grow up with two parents, where I grew up with a whole big family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, my parents and my sister), and I wouldn’t know who I am without them.