Spontaneous Word Poem

By the tree my eye sees 3 cows
The smell of vinegar fills the air and music from the church books fly by my hair
in my hair binder.
My dog smells sweet from the bath me and my sister gave her
My shirt does not
It is dirty from a long walk in my sunglasses breathing deeply
I skipped to the Oprah Winfrey show
My mother drove and my brother ran.
We heard her talk, laugh, giggle and sing
Then we jumped on home for the family meeting.

An Ordinary Man Outside Reading: Blog #1

I am reading An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusensabagina. The author was the hotel manager of the well known Hotel Rwanda. This book gives a better understanding of what happened and what is behind the genocide. On page 21 he mentions the Berlin Conference of 1885. I was very excited when I saw this because that is just what we were studying in my World History class the day I read those pages. "Representatives from Austria-Hungary, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Spain, the United States, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, and Norway met to sort out the conflicting claims their agents had made to vast pieces of real estate in Africa"(Rusensabagina 21). This was not a good time for Africans. Their land was being invaded by unfamiliar cultures and the new boundaries made no sense. "Rwanda fared well in some ways-at least, better than most of our neighbors. The borders shaved some corners form the rugged area claimed by the mwami, but we retained a certain amount of territorial integrity"(Rusensabagina 21-22). Rwanda was considered lucky compared to other African countries that had to go through the effects of the Berlin Conference. It is unimaginable to me of how much fear I would have if a country from another continent suddenly started taking over my continent and there was nothing I would be able to do about it but see what happens. The connection to the Berlin Conference in my book came to me as a pleasant surprise. This book is great and very interesting; I highly recommend it as an outside reading choice.

Spring Poem

So much of spring depends

Upon

Crunching Leaves

Browned from the long winters cold

The smell of wet earth and budding trees present in the air

Each leaf beside one another like a mosaique of the new season.