365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 122

My daughter wrote this..please read it and pay attention to the youth because they are way more in tune with life’s events than most people will give them credit for.

 

I am a senior in highschool…YAY CLASS OF 2012! I am proud to proclaim that I have been homeschooled all my life. Throughout my years of learning, my mother has instilled in me the skill and love of reading. And not just reading regular writings, but literature. And all through highschool, my mom has had me read to her. I have read and discovered all sorts of works, like that of Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, John Bunyan and so forth. I have even read literature from Ye Ol’ English, dating back to the infamous Beowulf.

Though I have read some bad things, along with the good works, I have grown to love literature. It’s become my favorite subject. You learn about yourself when read things like these. You learn and find where your morals, and views stand…you self-discover essentially. I have grown to love poetry a great deal. It has inspired me to write some of my own. Through reading literature, you gain culture, knowledge, and a well-rounded  vocabulary, which you use in turn to write works of  art. My mother always taught me the value of communicating well. Not sounding like an idiot when you’re speaking to somebody…whether it be for a job interview, or in a social setting among educated people. It’s important to have this…because you never really know where you’ll be, or when you’ll need it.

I hope you enjoy!

Bleeding Sacrifice

Your body, feels good next

To mine,

As I run my fingers down your Spine.

Your body, feels like it’s in its

Place,

Everyone questions

They think us a disgrace

Forget them Love,

Live a little.

All we have is the now,

There’s no turnin’ back.

I see you,You see me.

They think us Crazy.

We’re each other’s baby.

We see each other as

BEAUTY!

No one can see our

Pain,

See our veins,

Dripping with the blood

They make us.

We come together now

Healing each other’s

Wounds.

In our weakness,we gain strength.

In our fight to save

Each other.

We fall,

Joining another paradise.

Elena Brincat

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 83

” I shall not pass this way again-”    -Eva Rose York

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 20

Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense 

Day 20 Question #20: Besides something directly related to the family (i.e., the birth of a child), what has been the most exciting day of your life?

Answer: It’s Sunday so I looked for an easy question! The day I received the first copy of my first self-published book came to mind right away when I read this question.  I began  writing the book in 2007 and it was the most amazing journey I have ever under taken.  Writing your own life story is very difficult; I had to fight the nagging inner voices that whispered things like: You aren’t famous, who’d want to read about your life when you haven’t gone to the moon or stood on the red carpet? Everyday I had to keep believing in myself and fight all the negative voices of the past as well. Having the support of my husband and kids helped me out tremendously.

Since I was self-publishing, I had to save up my own money to meet my publishing goals. One night after my kids had received their allowance from their dad, one by one they  gave me their allowance and told me that they wish they could help me more. I was dumbfounded and as I’m recalling this right now, I’m getting a little choked up all over again. And so they continued, every time they got money from their dad, they immediately put it in my hand for my book.

I wrote my book for several reasons but the most important ones were: For my own personal healing and closure to my trauma filled past. Secondly, I wrote it in the hopes that others would be helped.  Lastly, I wrote AS CLEAR AS CLAIRE GETS,   A CONVERSATION WITH THE PAST, as part of the legacy I want to leave my kids and my future ancestors.

I compare the writing and birthing of my book to a type of birthing of  a new baby. The pain was there for sure as I revisited some of the most painful memories of my childhood; once I wrote about it though I would feel free.  As I continued to bury those things that tormented me in the pages of my book, I was giving birth to a new, more empowered version of myself. The day the UPS truck delivered my first author copy, I liken that to the same profound joy I felt every time after I had labored for a while only to end up holding a beautiful baby in my arms.

I urge you, whoever you are reading this, whatever you dream of doing, don’t put it off anymore. Fight past the nay sayers and the self doubt and take it step by step. Making your dream a reality is the one and only path  to your destiny. Go and fear no more because the only thing we really fear, is fear itself.  The definition of fear is this: False Evidence Appearing Real. Go make it happen!!

William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 13

Please refer back to my earlier posts and read what this challenge is about so that the later posts make sense. 

Day 13 Question# 13: What was one negative in your life that you were somehow able to turn into something quite positive?

Answer: When I first read this question, I decided to write about the very first thing that popped into my mind. I grew up in my uncle‘s home and he is the typical male chauvinist with an extra added twist; he is a Latino macho man who thinks women are to be seen and not heard. Back then the message I was getting was that I was not to have my own voice, or opinions. You’re a girl, therefore no one wants to hear from you.

So  I began to journal and really made friends with pen and paper pretty quick at a young age. Being that children long for the approval and recognition of their parental figures, I was no exception. One day I ventured out of my shell and I showed him a poem I had penned, which I was proud of because I felt in my heart it was a good piece. I took it to him and I asked him to read it. He did his usual looking down at me through the end of his bifocals which were perched on the end of his bulbous nose much like a surfer trying to balance his board on the crest of a wave.

I stood there frozen, holding my breath and trying to hush the beating of my heart which felt much like a freight train barreling down a dark tunnel at top speed inside my chest. I tried hard not to focus on my uncle’s’ blank face so I looked around in the place trying to count the people around me instead. Finally he finished. I wondered what took him so long to read just a few lines of my prose. The terrible silence continued and all I wanted to do was make a mad dash for the door and forget it all. Then my uncle pushed his military issue glasses back up his snooty nose and then he spoke,

” Well, you know this isn’t any good. Every good piece of poetry  MUST rhyme and since your doesn’t, this isn’t good at all.” He gave me my journal back and turned back to his newspaper. I was dismissed just like a scullery maid.

“That’s it?’ I thought. I was in the 8th grade at the time and I had been reading plenty of poetry, I was falling madly in love with Shakespeare’s love sonnets. I knew for a fact my uncle was being narrow minded because not all of the poetry I was reading   from the  greats I was studying had to rhyme. Being that I was quite shy and also understanding that my uncle would never hear my views, I kept my thoughts to myself.

I didn’t let his insensitivity stop me. No sir! Not when I had been encouraged by Mrs. Gillard in the 6th grade who told me I had a gift and that one day she hoped to see my first book of poetry. Her words have been the steam behind my engine all of these years. Yes, my uncle hurt me terribly but I chose to ignore his biting words and I embraced my teacher’s honey coated positive words.

And I’m so glad I did because ever since then, I have published my first bookand I’m working on publishing my 2nd book; which happens to be a volume of short stories and poetry. When my second book comes out I plan to mail it to my uncle with a thank you note. Because of his mistreatment, I learned to turn the negative around and prove to myself that I can do my dreams; no matter what dirt people throw in my face to blind me along the way.

I am writing this in the hopes that if you’ve been discouraged and kept from following your dreams, DO NOT LISTEN to those haters who tell you you can’t. Turn it around and prove them wrong because that’s the power that you have to hush those voices of opposition.

No MATTER What…

Today I want to remind you that NO MATTER what you’re experiencing right now, that God’s love for us goes deeper than what any of us can fathom. Trials have an interesting way of manifesting God’s love in a more powerful and tangible way. My dear readers and friends I want to encourage you by letting you know that you don’t always have to know why you go through what you go through; just TRUST Him the one who has it all under control. Think about this, trials and adversity are our university where we go, in order to learn who we are in God. TRUST Him even when you’ve no reason to and guess what? You’ll come out stronger in your faith and deeper in your love for Him. I dedicate this video to all of us who are in the midst of trials right now. This was posted to my Facebook wall by my sweet sister and I hope it uplifts you as it did me. Have a great day!

 

He Wept Sore

And he wept sore,

he knew he could do no more.

He wept sore,

he knew not,

what was in store.

He wept sore,

he knew not a lot,

but he did know the score.

He wept sore;

the one he claimed to love,

she picked up and walked out the front door.

He wept sore,

he wept long and hard,

then he crumbled and fell on the floor.

Eva Santiago Copyright 2011

It is Finished! Another school year that is…

Another school year ends 

the books are shut,

feet scurry out the door

it’s time c’mon,

let’s go…hurry it up!

Looking at four arrows-

wondering, pondering

did I do enough?

Sitting here long pondering,

will they have the right stuff?

I will never stop wondering

could I have done more?

I have shot my arrows

they all flew into the air;

I know not where they fell

aimed them all with great care.

I know not where they’ll land.

Parts of me I did share,

setting my foot prints in the sand;

trusting them to a greater power

they’ll be lead by an unseen hand.

~~ EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2011

Josephine Wall images

 

I hope all of my students, including my friends from WRITING ROYALTY have a safe, fun and amazing summer. Kick back, relax and DREAM!!

 

Poets

Poets:

Encourage, delight,outrage, inspire -

they capture life

as is, nothing held back,

with all the calm, in all of the strife.

Poets photograph the future

and bring it back.

Poets remind us of the past -

helping us put it behind

where it belongs at last.

Poets sing a song of rain,

and tell us we’re gonna make it,

we’ll rise above the pain.

The poetic voices

from the past and those in the present;

listen to them!

They feel the pulse,

They ARE the heart beat -

the nation waits with anticipation,

for the poets to speak -

encourage, delight, outrage , inspire.

Poets take us to the next great expectation.

 

EVA SANTIAGO COPYRIGHT 2011