My Unfinished Art Projects

The trouble with art is finishing it. I always have these wild ideas that grip me, and I’m like I’m gonna make that! That is soooooo coool! I start, but I don’t finish.

To pay homage to the art projects that I’ve failed to finish, I made this list:

1. Quilted-Magazine Envelope

Inspired by the envelope made of Funchum, I decided to create one made of magazines. I cut up the magazines into tiny squares, then I sorted out the same colored pieces. I glued the pieces on both sides of a larger square of oslo paper. I covered the piece with plastic, and sew the two squares of plastic with red thread.

Then I was supposed to sew all the pieces together and add a zipper on top.

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Deep Poem?

*Note: If Filipino words are used, they are translated below

The wind, the earth, the sea…

Throw in some emotion,

Blast it with imagery…

What does it take to write a deep poem?

Maybe a high school kid knows what it is.

Say what?

 

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To be Read, To be Loved

 

I remember one class in creative writing where my teacher Mr. Reyes asked us if we had a reader in mind while we wrote. A classmate said no and that she only writes for herself because she doesn’t want to compromise her art.

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PJAM Tries Friendship Counseling

PJAM (Precious, Jasmine, Johanna, Anna, Marian, Milagros/Trina) met when we were classmates back in grade five. At the end of the year, I was praying that, for some miracle, we’d be classmates again. Our school, Miriam, randomly mixes up the classes every year so that we will have a new set of classmates every time we moved up a grade level. There were times that you could be classmates with the same person for several years, but I knew it was impossible that six people would be classmates again the next year. Still, I was hoping against hope.

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Descriptive Essay: Think before You Act

*Note: This is an essay that I wrote when I was in second year high school. In English class, we were asked to write a descriptive essay in our English journal. I had a hard time thinking of what topic to write about, but in the end I wrote this. This entire essay was largely kept as is because I wanted to share how Ja the high school kid wrote.

The sun had just risen from sleep ending the darkness’ reign over the sky. The alarm clock started screaming the night away forcing me to pull out from the enchanting realm of sleep. I faced the day within the control of lethargy, powerless to shake off the grogginess. I forced myself to get up from my cozy little bed, for I knew that I had so many things to do.

I wanted to finish all my homework, so that I could spend the rest of Miriam’s poor excuse of a semester break into hours of pure idleness. I looked around my room and saw that everything was in a disarray. My books were embarrassingly cluttered, and my pillows had traveled far from my bed. Lots of Kleenex tissues were scattered just beside the trash can, and such things as these contributed to the chaotic atmosphere of the room.

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