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For some apparent reason, when my blog is being viewed, the poems can not be seen but my response to them is visible. From what I have seen, in order to see the poem that my response is referring to is to highlight the seemingly empty space and then the words appear.

"Mind vs. Heart" poem

Mind vs. Heart

Right now there’s a war going on inside my soul

Should I keep you to hold or just let you go?

Cuz when my eyes see you, my body needs you

My soul wants you, my heart loves you!

But when I’m alone in the dark my mind tells my heart

That we should stay far apart, that’s when the drama starts

Cuz although my mind knows what’s right, my heart knows what I like

But late at night when I close my eyes I begin to visualize

You and I watching the sun rise

But then I get a message from my mind saying it’s about time

I leave the fantasies behind and move on with my life

I guess the war that goes on within will never end

It’ll only die down until I see you again

C. C. McFarlan

This is a poem about a young girl’s emotions. They’re torn between two things that are used for judgment, both her Mind and Heart. While her heart may tell her to do one thing, her mind tells her that she’s better of avoiding it. In this case, the emotions are towards a special person in her life. Many young people have situations like this because they feel so strongly inclined to do one thing and at the same time feel as if they shouldn’t do it. This situation is not an easy one but rather a difficult emotional rollercoaster.

This poem is very similar to the one I posted by another friend of mine not too long ago. I feel the same way towards both authors. These wars between the Mind and Heart might be experienced by all at least once throughout the course of life. Emotions are a special thing and can be very strange. They can be so fragile at times and very strong other times. As I have already stated, I think these types of emotional issues can be avoided by not making a person your number one priority too early in life. Instead, adolescents should focus their time and effort towards their school work and other constructive things that are beneficial for the long-run in life.

"Look at me Mom" poem

Look at Me, Mom

Look at me, mom

I can do it on my own now

I’ve learned to do so much

Without you, I wouldn’t know how

Eight long hours of labor

Stress, stretch marks and pain

Sleepless nights and long mornings

Yet you still loved me the same

Look at me, mom

I’ve learned to walk

Look at me, mom

I’ve learned to talk

Look at me, mom

Look at what I can do

Look at me, mom

I graduated from high school

Look at me, mom

I’m growing up right before your eyes

They say when you’re having fun

Time passes you by

I’m moving on to college

This brings my eyes to tear

But because of you

I have nothing to fear

You gave me confidence, encouragement,

You gave me self respect

You gave me precious moments and memories

That I’d never forget

Look at me, mom

I can do it on my own

Look at me, mom

Look at how much I’ve grown

Look at me, mom

I am as happy as can be

But I didn’t have to keep saying look at me, mom

Because you were always looking at me

C. C. McFarlan

In this poem, the author expresses her feelings of maturation towards her mother. I feel as if I can connect with this poem because I am my mother’s only son. All throughout my childhood, my mother “babied” me and took care of me with such caution. My father would always tell her, “He’s a boy; you need to leave him alone and let him grow up so he can learn things on his own.” Even at 18 years of age, my mother still attempts to do everything for me. Now my father blames her for my incompetence at certain things. He says I depend on her for things I can do on my own because of the way she catered to me as I developed.

I really feel the same way as the author in this poem. Being in college now, it’s almost as if I scare my mother with every thing I do or adventure I embark on. Instead of just accepting the fact that I am maturing and getting older, she continues to try and “baby” using some discretion since I am in college now. My father continues to preach that I should accept responsibilities for my actions and in a sense, take care of myself since I am 18 years old now. I say to my mother, look at my accomplishments. Look at how big I have gotten now. I know I will always bring fear to my mother’s heart because I’m her only son. I will continue to show my mother and express to her how much I’ve progressed in life, how much I’ve developed and matured in order to make her proud of me.

Speech Quote: "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees"

In my Public Speaking class today, a classmate of mine presented a persuasive speech on the neglect of our freedom of religion. A quote he used during his presentation was, “It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” I was taken by this quote because it encourages me to stand up for what I believe in. Instead of being timid or afraid to voice my opinion, I should stand firm on my beliefs. I’ve never been afraid to speak for myself or anything of that sort, but instead of being confident enough to say what’s right or how things should be, I’ve remained quite and kept my thoughts to myself.

In the latter half of the quote, it talks about life on your knees. The term living on your knees, means to be submissive and to not have a backbone. All these phrases and terms are euphemisms for a person who is weak minded or fearful of expressing the truth. Instead of being fearful, we should stand up for our beliefs rather than be passive and let the wrong thing continue to go on. Living on your knees will only allow what is right to be submerged and suppressed. The world would be much safer and happier if the truth or what is right wasn’t kept hidden. Instead of living on our knees, we should stand up for what is right and our beliefs in order to end the submerging of what is right or correct.

"Who Am I" poem

Who Am I?

Picture this: I’m laid up on the couch, just got home from school

1000 channels but nothing is on, so I just watch the news

So many wars, so much crime

So many days, so little time

So many options but no choice

So many opinions but no voice

So I finished my homework and then later

I picked up a pen and a piece of paper

I wrote what I felt about what’s going on

How it used to be right but now it’s all gone wrong

I gave it to my teacher once I was finished

She read and said who am I to have an opinion

Who am I?

I’m the alpha, the omega, the beginning and the end

I am a sister, a daughter, a foe and a friend

I am the first and the last; I am what was and what will be

I’m that kid that has a dream but ain’t nobody gonna kill me

I’m that pain you feel every time you fall

But then strength you need to stand up tall

I’m the perseverance you need to get pass the boulders

Then I’m the cockiness in your heart when you brush the dirt off your shoulders

I am the sorrow you feel whenever you lie and –

I am the hope for the future. I am the “I Am”

I am all you could need, I’m all that you got

You ask who am I but the question is

Who am I not?

C. C. McFarlan

I really can relate to this poem because at the adolescent stage in a one’s life, they begin to ask the “Who Am I” question. At 18 years old, instead of searching for myself, I am developing an answer to this seemingly simple question. I try to have an answer when this question is asked. Although I am still young and developing, I want to have an idea of who I will be when I am established in life. I do not call myself the alpha and omega as the author does but I do claim to be “The One” when I’m an adult. When I use the term “The One” I mean several things such as: the one to make my family proud, the one to support myself along with others, the one to make a difference in this world.

"A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste", poem

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

They said a mind is a terrible thing to waste

You’d be the disgrace stuck in one place

With ignorance written across your face

Opportunities come and you let them past

Stuck in one spot: going nowhere fast

But I can’t relate to that

See, my intellect leads to elevation

That brings forth elation

I try to supply education but you don’t hear the conversation

For my mindset you can’t find yet

Unless you get a translation and acquire relation

At hand but

You don’t understand cuz

You ain’t get da oxymoron in da early stanzas

But I’ma stick to thetopic

And correcting intentional errors is not it

It’s that you think you’re hot because you cop whips (cars)

And got kicks (shoes)

But you need to stop it

And get the pic I’m tryna illustrate

Into your minds these words shall penetrate

Observe my ways and emulate

Maybe then can we associate

Because you’re wasting my time if you’re wasting your mind

And those are two things you just don’t wanna waste

C. C. McFarlan

A college friend of mine wrote this poem several months ago. As I was reading through her poem book, I stumbled across this one and found it very interesting. I felt as if it applied to my life because I’ve always been known as a procrastinator. I’ve been known to waste time and just not get my work done until the very last minute instead of working ahead of time or getting things done rather than sitting around and doing nothing. I agree with the poems author, because a mind is a terrible thing to waste. The mind is a marvel of science and is always developing. Instead of letting it be effected by atrophy, we should educated and further progress its advancements with knowledge. Procrastination hasn’t really hurt me in the past but in college it can be deadly to your grade in a class. In the future, instead of wasting time away or letting my mind go to waste, when I have free time I will do the work I have. Another great quote that I’ve been taught is, “Don’t put off what you can do today for tomorrow.” With this being said, I’ll continue to try to do things ahead of time as opposed to rushing through them the day before or the day its due.

Response to Raphie's Pride blog

When I first heard about a movie about an All Black Swimming team, I immediately thought to myself, I have to see it. I really wanted to see it because I can’t swim. I have had near death experiences in the water. From Raphie’s blog, the assessment of the movie sounds very touching and inspirational. Pride does seem like a great title for a movie because during that time, African Americans were robbed of they’re pride. I would love to have a role model or supporter to teach me how to swim or do something in order to compete. I have participated in competitive sports but never on a level like theirs where I’ve had something to prove to the world. I know that there will not be any movies made based on my sports career in high school.

The Pride movie promos were very similar to the promos of the movie Glory Road. I really enjoyed Glory Road because it was a movie about a black college basketball team that played for “pride.” If Pride is anything like Glory Road, I know I’ll thoroughly enjoy the movie. Movies like this are very inspirational and give a message of encouragement to their viewers that you should never give up. I love movies and stories like this. All throughout high school, whenever I didn’t like a situation or things weren’t going the right way, I chose to give up or to just leave the situation alone. My father always told me that I can’t make it a habit of running away from my problems or when things are too difficult for me. In college now, I plan to fight through my problems instead of giving up and running away from them.