Footprints

If you've been following me since the beginning, you probably remember my poem "Like Footprints" (if not, just click here).  I have progressed a lot since the day I posted it, and after a semester of poetry at Pomona College, I've decided to do a complete rewrite.  In fact, I'm not even sure if it's fair to call it that, since the only thing I've kept in this new poem is the idea of footprints in the sand.  Something that I miss from the original is the rhythm that it had to it, but I think there are some great things about this poem as well.  Some changes are probably going to be made to this poem after the poetry workshop on Tuesday, but I thought I'd just post the most recent version I have now.

Footprints

Your footprints in the sand
Are swallowed by the seawater

Palm-palm touch
My hand hangs in the air, waiting

I miss your sticky fingers
Glued onto mine in a flesh mesh

My soles slap-slap the pavement
The echo of your footsteps ping-pongs

My hand ventures into the casket
You're frozen in all kinds of ways

One day these black-clad figures
Will live, forget life, but

I can't unremember
Your print's still stamped on me

An Announcement

Hey readers, just a quick announcement that I am making a small alteration to this blog.  Tomorrow I am changing the privacy settings so that only select readers can log in to read my blog posts.  I want to give you the heads up before I actually change the settings.  If there are any technical problems and you can't log in, shoot me an email and we'll figure things out.  Happy Internet surfing!

Mind Adrift

Hiya, guys!  Whaddya know, I'm making a post in the middle of the school week (I'm currently procrastinating my homework… shhhh!).  It's for something important, okay?  I'm thinking about submitting a poem to the Scripps College Journal.  I've already gotten my poetry class's opinion three times and my twin's opinion one time.  Before I do the daring deed and turn it in, I want my lovely followers' opinions.  The deadline to submit is coming up quick, so please reply soon.

Mind Adrift

sometimes it goes too far
but it still has yet           to touch

resting my head in
the hollow of your chin

tucking my arm into
the fold of your elbow

sliding between the gaps of
your slightly parted fingers

mingling my legs with yours
skimming the edges of you

Single Moms' Club

Y'know, I've never not liked a movie I reviewed on this blog.  That is, sadly, going to change today.  The fact that right now I have trouble remembering anything I did like in the movie does not bode well for my review.  Give me a minute to think…  Oh, I liked the character Lytia, played by Cocoa Brown.  She is very strong-willed and sassy, and won't let herself be easily pushed around; I found her entertaining, but not enough to rescue my opinion of the movie in its entirety.  I think I laughed once (maybe twice?) watching the group of single moms forming a support group, falling in love, bettering their relationships with their kids, etc. etc.  All this sounds wonderfully heartwarming (I did tear up seeing one of the poor kids cry about his drug-addict dad), but in the end it didn't have as much lasting emotional and mental impact as Saving Mr. Banks.  Because there were so many characters, the relationships and character development felt extremely shallow.  Sure, there is a happily-ever-after at the end, where everything is hunky-dory with the kids and all of the moms are dating hot guys (that eye candy was a benefit to seeing this movie); however, the movie as a whole is simply not memorable.  I'm not going to wake up tomorrow thinking about this movie, and in fact, I'm not sure I'll ever think about it again as soon as I post this.

At the end of the day, I wish that I had tried harder to convince my mom to watch Divergent instead.  That would've at least meant seeing Theo James shirtless.

Pro-Life? Pro-Choice? Any Alternatives?

I decided to make a post about a particularly touchy issue in our society, which has been on my mind for the past few days.  If there is anything I have written that is offensive or is said in error, I apologize.  Before I actually begin, I want to make it clear that this post is not intended to be an argument of pro-life or pro-choice, but rather a suggestion of a new (actually it's not that new, but it's still good to bring up) approach to supporting women in need.  You see, while I understand the concerns about the life of a fetus/unborn child in the argument about abortion, I can't ignore the life of the woman that supports it.  Granted, there are some women out there who use abortion as another form of birth control even when they have the means to support a child.  With them I think I will disagree.  However, there are also women who don't see it this way, but their lives are endangered by the pregnancy, or they are the victims of rape, or they simply do not have the resources/support group necessary to go through with the pregnancy.  People - especially us Christians - can do a lot better than simply telling a woman that abortion is a sin and then leaving her on her own to deal with pregnancy, motherhood, and the difficulties that come with them.

Thankfully there are pregnancy centers out there that help women with unplanned pregnancies, but one that especially stands out to me is this pregnancy center.  It stands out because one time, New Heart church members (including myself) visited the Living Well Pregnancy Center to clean up the building's rooms and organize its supplies.  I remember that my mom thoroughly scrubbed their bathroom to a whole new level of cleanliness.  I'm sorry that we never made another visit to help them out some more, because I feel that what this and other pregnancy centers do is a better way to encourage life than simply saying "I'm Pro-Life, and you should be too."  The pregnancy center's mantra "You Are Not Alone" is undoubtedly a more encouraging message to hear.  I think the website best phrases what this center does by saying, "our mission is to provide alternative services and practical solutions to each woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, in order to allow her to make a rational decision without the undue pressure of her other circumstances."  The center even provides post-abortion counseling, showing love even to the women who decided to go through with abortion.  I can't tell you how great Living Well's mission statement is, nor how much better our time would be spent supporting Living Well than condemning women who choose abortion.  I do want to note here that I'm not saying all people who express Pro-Life views are condemning, unloving, or unhelpful people because that's really not true.  I simply want to point out that supporting organizations (with time, money, whatever is on your heart to give) seems a more effective and active way to save lives (and I'm not just talking about the lives of fetuses).  So, Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?  I think the real question should be if we're Pro-Help.

Thank you for reading my personal thoughts on this, and understand that I am in no way trying to guilt-trip anyone into volunteering, donating, or anything like that.  It's just something that I felt needed to be expressed and pondered on, if even for a moment.

Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks is a movie about fathers.  For a while I hadn't understood the meaning of the title, until my dad explained to me that it was a metaphorical reference, based upon the father Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins.  With this new knowledge in mind, I walked into the theater expecting my heart to be genuinely moved, and it was.  As the movie engages with the story of Walt Disney trying to convince Pamela Tavers to sign over the rights of Mary Poppins, it also smoothly flows in and out of Mrs. Travers' backstory.  We discover her heartache-worthy childhood, heavily influenced by a father who was loving, filled with faults, and - most importantly -  adored by his daughter.

At the beginning Mrs. Tavers is just a stubborn, cranky old lady that I didn't find at all likable.  However, as her frozen demeanor thaws and she connects with Walt Disney (played by Tom Hanks) and her driver (played by Paul Giamatti) on a more personal level, she comes to grow on me.  Most of all, I begin to respect her for the way she treasures her work of art that is Mary Poppins, so much so that she fights Disney throughout their creative journey.  As a writer, I can appreciate her fears about maintaining the essence of her characters and the tainting that Disney and others may bring to them in the making of the movie Mary Poppins.  However, I know the argument and the walls that Mrs. Tavers erects have little to do with the art of her writing itself, but of the father that she desperately wishes to redeem.  Her story is both poignant and beautiful.

With its great actors, threads of humor, and a meaningful theme tying it all together, I think my father and I can both agree that Saving Mr. Banks is a MUST-SEE.  So, what are you waiting for?

Frozen

Oh man, I have been neglecting this blog MAJORLY.  Sorry about that folks, you know how busy college life is.  I'm back with a new spiel about the latest movie Frozen.  Let's start with the best part: the animation.  The scene where Elsa builds a grand ice castle for herself with a few waves of her hand is absolutely beautiful, and basically any scene where the "snow queen" uses her power is a sight worth seeing.  You can never knock magic sparkles.  Elsa's sister Anna is a very spunky and adorable character whom I enjoyed watching throughout the film.  She's free-spirited, but the love that she shows for her sister is a real tearjerker (especially at the end).  My dad said he would've liked to see Elsa's character explored more, but doing the movie in Anna's point of view does keep things a little more upbeat.

I don't like putting major spoilers on my movie reviews, so I can't tell you all of my reactions to the plot twists (now matter how twisty they were).  However, I can say that I appreciated how the movie's message about love didn't revolve exclusively around the romantic kind of love.  There are certainly other forms of love and I feel that the movie did do a good job of showing that.  As for Olaf the snowman… whew, he is a trip!  Practically every scene he was in made me laugh, and his musical number about how he wishes it were summer only made him more funny/endearing (Kristoff: "I'm gonna tell him.  Anna: "Don't you dare.").  That leaves me with Kristoff, the ice guy.  Pretty handsome dude.  I'm gonna leave it there.

So, what's the final sum-up?  Frozen is a pretty entertaining movie and you should see it if you like funny snowmen, mushy lovey-dovey stuff, and reindeer named Sven.

P.S. I didn't find out until after I saw the movie that Flynn/Eugene and Rapunzel from the movie "Tangled" make a cameo appearance!  You only see their backs, but be on the lookout for them when people are entering the castle of Arendelle for Elsa's coronation.