Over and over
I try
To put your meaning
Into words
However
It’s not possible.
Such a force cannot be contained
Within letters.
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There is that great proverb - that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. Once I realized that, I had to be a writer. It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail - the bravery, even, of the lions.
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“Aspirational compromise is for pussies.”
Preach sister! Man do I ever relate to this. Its the story of an 18 year old photographer.Man oh man can I relate to this. I am so impatient. Now that I have made the mental leap to follow my passion, and finally start being honest with myself about what I want to do with my life, I just want to START. I’m itching for it and it refuses to go away, even for a day. It really is not doing miracles for my productivity for my last few semesters here at McGill.
Oh and one minor speed bump: I have to get accepted into the program first. I am very confident that I can, but still, the doubt still lingers. I just feel like I am being pushed to do this my some supernatural force, and I know that sounds crazy, but there has got to be a reason behind how I made the decision (which I had been battling for months) two days before the deadline was for applying.
That being said, I am in fact meeting up with someone who is currently in the program, tomorrow and I am excited to here what he has to say. Also, without the willpower to resist anymore, I am going to do even a mini shoot this weekend. I NEED to build my portfolio. If only I had a remote, it would make doing self portraits a lot easier. I feel like I have the most freedom with it. -
Over and Over
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Limbo
I am in an awkward limbo
where I seek, and plan to follow my dream
and yet have unfinished business
whilst waiting for the three letters
YES
that will depict my fate as of yet
whether it will finally kickstart the rollarcoaster
that was already going on inside my mind.
I want to be able to look back down the road
when I am crippled with old age
and be happy with my accomplishments
and pinpoint the exact moment when I decided to take a leap of faith
and applied.
When I, after graduating, went on to be a world renowned professional fashion photographer
who shot for the biggest names in the industry
I want to know that I worked hard and got the success that I knew I deserved.
I want to be able to turn to all the people that said I would never make it and say
HA. JUST LOOK AT ME NOW.
I want to know that I was able to stare my kids in the eye and tell them to pursue my dreams, just like their mom did.
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Parents and Photography
Me: “So I just wanted to let you know that I am applying for photography at Concordia.”
Mom: “I knew you were going to. It was only a matter of time and I’m not really surprised. I’m proud of you!”
Me: “So I just wanted to let you know that I applied for photography at Concordia.”
Dad: “No, this isn’t the right decision.”Polar opposites. I love the support from my much and as much as I predicted it, I am a little disappointed in my dad for ignoring my passion, potential, and drive to do what I love in life.
I officially made the decision that I am going to pursue photography as a career and that I will go to photography school. Of course, I made this decision two days before the application deadline at Concordia University. It was a mad scramble, and a very stressful last two days, but I got it in! Now all I have to do is wait for my acceptance and start this new journey in September!
I feel more at peace than I have ever since being at McGill. I was experiencing some extreme emotional turmoil and I finally decided to be honest with myself and stop ignoring my instincts and drive. I have never felt so free and I am ecstatic for all of the adventures that await me on this new path.
Someone who I really look up to once told me, “I want you to feel jazzed everyday of your life.” Find what makes you feel jazzed and do it! Don’t listen to the ones that will bog you down, including your parents. As she also said, “No one knows you better than you do.”
That’s what I am doing and I cannot wait for this chapter of my life to start. -
This woman is incredible.
Kait Rokowski - “Christina Turner”
“I should not be liable for what someone else takes from me.”
Super excited to announce one of the final two videos in our collaboration with Poetry Observed. These are super high quality, beautifully filmed, so make sure to watch in HD. Kait Rokowski is currently the 3rd-ranked female slam poet in the world, and will be representing Saint Paul Soap Boxing at WOWPS in March!
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Me right now.
(Source: kushandwizdom, via whisperboard)
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tedx:
Drones for good: Andreas Raptopoulos at TEDxHelvetia
Much has been said about the destructive capabilities of autonomous flying robots — also known as drones — and less about their potential for good.
TEDx speaker Andreas Raptopoulos wants to start that conversation, and at TEDxHelvetia he did, by introducing Matternet — a project designed to use small, flying autonomous robots to deliver medicine to places inaccessible by typical modes of transportation.
From his talk:
One billion people do not have access to all-season roads. One-seventh of the Earth’s population are disconnected from all socioeconomic activity for some part of the year.
They cannot get medicine reliably. They cannot get goods. They cannot get their goods to market in order to find a sustainable path out of poverty.
Now mainstream thinking suggests that these nations should invest in building roads — following the lead of the developed world. It’s a pretty tall order. It’s estimated that in some countries, it may take them 50 years to catch up…
We saw that and we thought, ‘…There has to be another way.’ So we asked the question, ‘Can these countries leapfrog?’ After all, many of these nations have excellent telecommunications today, but they’ve never put copper lines in the ground. Could we do the same for transportation? We believe we can.
Imagine this scenario: You are in a maternity ward in Mali and you have a newborn in need of urgent medication. What do you do? Well…you place a request by mobile phone; somebody gets that request immediately: that part works. But the medicine may take days to arrive: that’s the part that’s broken.
We believe we can fix this. We believe we can deliver the medicine within hours — or even minutes — with an electric, autonomous, medical supply vehicle…
The beauty of this technology is its autonomy. There’s no pilot needed to fly this vehicle. They fly using GPS waypoints from one landing station to the next. Once they arrive at a landing station, they swap battery and load automatically. This is the heart of our system…
It turns out that it’s amazingly cost-effective. In order to transport two kilograms over 10 kilometers, the cost is only 24 cents…
We believe that Matternet can do for the transportation of matter what the Internet did for the flow of information.
Says TED speaker Ray Kurzweil of the project — in conversation with Fast Company, “The developed world has a huge lead over the developing world in infrastructure but our strategy should be to leapfrog these already obsolete and crumbling systems with 21st century solutions. That’s what we did with phone systems as developing societies went right to wireless and will never put in a wired land line system. Bits are already being widely distributed to emerging economies. Matternet will do that for atoms.”
Matternet photo via Electronic Products
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I wish
And I wish I was in love with a girl
So that when we walk down the street holding hands
And it feels like a war
That I can take the blunt pain
And save you
I wish I was a girl wanting to be a boy
So that when I was walking into a bathroom
I could feel the overarching power of anxiety
Overcome by body
And not yours.
I wish that I was handicapped
So that the wandering eyes would ogle at me
Hovering over my bodily imperfection
But barely stab at yours.
I wish that I was something that didn’t fit
Into this pathetic heteronormative
Master script
Someone somehow created
Just so that I could save you from what you must experience all too often.
I’m not trying to say that you can’t handle it
That you aren’t strong
Because you’re stronger than the rest of us
And I revere you for it.
I just think that sometimes you would want a break from all this
Bullshit.
And I wish that I was a colour that wasn’t white
So that I could revel in a body that I think is beautiful
And not subject to the idiotic ideals of marketing
And society
And all those constructed ideas of who and what beauty is
And I wish that I was a colour of anything but white
For white is boring
Average
Uninteresting
While everything else has ceaseless wonder.
I once saw a video in class
Of these impeccably, stunning, striking
Insert whatever other adjective here
African women
Saying how they used to want to bleach their skin so that they may feel beautiful.
And when the little girl who was asked who the smart girl was
She pointed to the white one
When asked for the dumb
She pointed to the black one
And I couldn’t help but wonder at what point
We corrupting our minds
In thinking that we have the monopoly on beauty.
For perhaps against typical marketing belief
I do not think this skin is beautiful
And I admit that I am sometimes plagued by the privilege
That comes attached to it.
And I can’t fathom why some strive for it
Deprecating something that is far more beautiful
For this.
