My Future Spoken Word/Poem

My Future

By Arianna Owens

“What I see when I imagine my future?”, you say.

Many things I say.

I imagine my future daughter.

She will be special.

Special.

My life is like a roaring ocean, chaotic and unorganized, and she calms the storm with her first breath.

She calms it.

The sight of her takes my breath away

“What I see when I imagine my future?”, you say.

Many things I say.

Her eyes, when they look up at me for the first time, I feel like she could be an angel from their beauty.

Her smile.

Her smile is like a thousand suns beaming down on me.

The emotions that I feel when I look at her is indescribable.

Like eating a piece of sweet chocolate or going for a nice, cool swim on a hot day.

The touch of her finger wound tightly around my finger sends electricity all throughout my body.

The mother-daughter connection is immediate.

It is immediate.

“What I see when I imagine my future?”, you say.

Many things I say.

I imagine her first ring of laughter, so bright and cheerful, sounding like a chorus of a thousand birds chirping.

Her first time has the strength to roll over, there will be an imaginary audience that claps thunderously for her, as they are so proud of her.

The first time she starts the crawl, an imaginary audience will give her a standing ovation.

When she stands up and takes her first steps, I personally will clap for her and throw her roses, because I am the most proud of her.

I, her mother, want to be able to capture every vidal moment in her life.

“What I see when I imagine my future?” you say.

I imagine you.

The one which I can’t wait to meet.

You.

My future daughter.

For My People Spoken Word/Poem

For My People

By Arianna Owens

For my people

The ones who traveled overseas from Norway

The ones who settled in a new land

The ones who knew nobody but created somebody

The ones that I long to know

The Norwegian in me longs to one day see the world.

For my people

Who made us strong and confident

The ones who traveled on slave ships from Africa to down south North America

The ones who suffered every beating and racist look

The ones who withstood every segregated place with dignity

For the African American I have in me

For my people

The ones who have conquered a great deal of hardship

The ones who have worked for many generations for what they believe in

The ones who risked their lives to save others

This is for the Caucasian I have within

For my people

All cultures and races

For my people

The ones who made my history

I touch the ones around me and instantly feel an immediate connection

For my people

The ones who made me strong

If you could taste history, it would be bitter sweet

For my people

I say, with all my heart, thank you.

Warm Up Quick Blog #11

I think I have had an existential crisis before. Once I woke up in the morning and I started questioning whether I was alive or not. I might have still been 1/2 asleep while I was questioning this, but I still didn't understand if I was alive or not. Once I discovered that I was alive, I started questioning why I was living and why I was living instead of someone else. I questioned why people had to die from natural or unnatural causes and I wasn't dead. What had I done to deserve life that they did not? It was a very interesting experience, but an experience that I never want to experience ever again.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #10

The final lines in the novel, The Great Gatsby are ,"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Nick is trying to say that life goes on, whether you want it to or not. You can not stop the time that goes past us. We have to continue on in life, living life to the fullest before it is too late. The past is behind us. We can look back into the past but we can not travel back in time. Even if your mind wants to live in the past, your life, like a boat, pushes against the current, and continue to live your life. I do agree with Nick. You can try to relive the past but all the past is is memories in the present. The best thing is to look forward into the future and be excited about the new things that come your way.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #9

We live in a country that values "The American Dream," a belief that claims success and happiness can be achieved thorough hard work. Yet, the gap continues to widen between "the haves" and the 'have-nots". In your opinion, how can this trend be reversed? What must change so "The American Dream" is more than an illusion?

In my opinion, there are many ways this trend can be reversed. People can start believing that doing their best is enough. People can start believing that working their hardest is being successful in life. People can start believing that not all things that you do have the end results of success, so they need to be content with the result that they get. "The American Dream" can be more than an illusion by people actually believing in themselves and not just letting other people believe in them.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #8

I have had two olympic dreams for a long time now. I have always wanted to be a star gymnast and a star figure skater. My mother was a gymnast when she was on a traveling gymnastic team when she was little so I feel like I have her flexibility and gymnast skills. I took gymnastics a couple times in the summer but never stuck with it. I took ice skating lessons for one year because I wanted to see if I could excel at it. If I would have stuck with gymnastic and/or ice skating lessons and had more commitment with it, I think I could have been a star athletic and dominated at it.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #7

Originality or Plagiarism?

-Mark Twain maintained that "all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources." 

-Steve Jobs famously proclaims that "creativity is just connecting things." 

I agree with these two statements. There is always going to be someone out there who has had the idea before you. The ideas that people think of have already been thought of by someone else, in the past. Most of the ideas have been thought but now put into action. Creative geniuses are simply compiling and remixing second hand ideas and borrowed art. 

Warm up: Quick Blog #6

How will I take more chances and live more open and in the moment next year:

This year I will be more willing to try new things. I will try to be more spontaneous and will go with the flow, wherever it takes me. I will be more willing to hear other people's opinions. I will work on not judging other people. I will take the challenges that life throws my way and I will tackle them; learning from them every step of the way. I will take the hard things in life and put a positive spin on things. I will put my heart on the line, even more than before, and enjoy every experience that life gives me, good or bad.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #5

If I didn't own a cell phone or a handheld device, my life would change drastically. My mom bought me my first cell phone when I was in 5th grade. I could only use it to call her from my dad's house or for emergencies, only. But, I still thought it was the best thing ever. When I got older, I eventually got a phone that I was allowed to call and text anyone on. Communication was key when I got to high school. If I didn't have a cell phone, it would have to find different ways to communicate with people. I would have to use the internet or use a home phone, which would be less convenient. It would definitely complicate my life, but eventually I would get used to not having a cell phone.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #4

If I had a sixth sense, it would be to remember and interpret the meanings of dreams. I rarely remember my dreams and when I do, they usually don't make sense in my head. There are many different interpretations to dreams so I would love to see what the kinds of stuff I dream about really means. I used to have this one specific dream every so often when I was very little, that usually turned into a nightmare. I still remember it but I have no idea what the dream meant. It would be interesting to see. Also, I have had a couple dreams that have come true, the next day. I would love to see how that is possible that I predicted the future, through my dream.

Warm Up: Quick Blog #3

I cling to many inanimate(not alive) objects in my life. One inanimate object that I cling to the most is my violin. My violin symbolizes so much more in my life other than a musical instrument. My violin and playing violin symbolize tradition passed down from generation to generation, in my family. The tradition of playing and giving the gift of music to others. My great grandma played violin from when she was a little girl until she was very old. All of my grandmother's 7 brothers and sisters all played a musical instrument. All of my grandmother's children all played/ still play a musical instrument. And now my brother and I have played musical instruments, ever since we were 5 years old. Music is everything to me and my family.

Warm up: Quick Blog #2

My typical weekday is consumed by school, homework, and practicing violin. I basically do the same thing every single day, in the same order. I do certain things, at the same time, every morning and at night, I generally eat supper and go to bed at the same time. I am a creature of habit. I sometimes think I have obsessive compulsive disorder(OCD) because I can not stand when my schedule is not set. Everything needs to be organized in my life and if it isn't, I loose sleep because I stress myself out too much. I have been told that I should try new things every so often, switch up my daily organized schedule. Maybe I will someday.

Warm up: Quick Blog #1

The future is exciting. Imagining my future and trying to plan it out is exciting. All the new experiences that I may experience, all the adventures that I will go on. Something about looking towards the unknown is interesting. I try not to look back at the past because the past is done with and over. I try not to think about the present because the future is always a second away. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”  -Eleanor Roosevelt