I’ve been at fenn for six years 

I’m ready to leave

This ride was severe

But it’s over and I’m full of relief 

I made friends I made brothers

I learned how to support each other

Favorite teachers name is Fitz 

He taught me how not to quit

Favorite place is the gym

The only place I get wins

The food here is sketchy

Eating all on my plate is stretchy

Call me spike ball king

Cause when it comes to winning I’ll do anything

Fortnite mobile that game went global

I was beating kids and making them disposal

Play me one on one in playground

And u will end up getting clowned

I be getting A’s in art

Because I’m very smart

Every time I made honor roll

I’m happy as that was my goal

One thing that I hate

Was how long it took before I reached home plate 

I’ve been here since fourth

Going through all the back and fourth

So many recess recalls 

Grades on a downfall

So many Tuesday’s 

That did not make me gay

I am at my homestretch at fenn

And my time is coming to an end

Overall fenn was great 

But my time has come to migrate

Bird

Outside in the open grassy green field

there was a large ancient great red oak tree

a bird with the striped colors of Garfield 

the bird lived its lengthy life and was free

the bird flew in the bright blue open sky

when it flew above the fluffy white clouds

the tall ugly kids heard crying near bye

they screamed madly because the sound was loud

but what they didn’t know was that that sound 

was from a depressed kid who lost a bird

that was ultimately bound to be crowned

as the king of their amazing rare herd

unfortunately the birds life had died

and it was sent then to the sky to lie

Why Thoreau doesn’t like charity

Its always good to give, or is it. In the chapter “Economy” in the book Walden, Henry David Thoreau challenges the fact that all charity is good. While it’s  hard to argue that giving to the less fortunate is bad; sometimes it is more complicated that just a simple gift. HDT argues that some charity is born out of a bad conscience. If most philanthropists are rich men who own factories then they are subjecting people less fortunate than them to terrible wages and bad working conditions. “They are hypocrites”, he says. It is virtuous to give a small amount of your pay, but comparing to the people who lives in poverty all around the world, and you just sit there and enjoy your wealth. It’s ironic. 

“While my townsmen and women are devoted in so many ways to the good of their fellows, I trust that one at least may be spared to other and less humane pursuits. You must have a genius for charity as well as for anything else. As for Doing-good, that is one of the professions which are full. Moreover, I have tried it fairly, and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.”

Thoreau is a sceptic when it comes to charity. He sees through what might be a false goodness and try’s to figure out why someone who has it all needs to give stuff away. He doesn’t believe in basic human goodness in other words. If charity is given he looks for the reason why someone felt obligated to share the wealth, especially when they aren’t usually the giving type. This kind of view is trying. For me I like to believe that humans are innately good.

Wealthiness does not tie with ones virtue

   New Gym

            find a place inside where there’s joy and the joy will burn out the pain

-Joseph Campbell

There’s no place like home, or is there.Throughout my six years at fenn, there’s been one place that has continuously made me feel like home. Basketball is  a passion of mine for a while now and the gym has never seemed to amaze me. It was the first place I met friends and the place I continue to make friends.

                                                    Pause for a moment and reflect

As I head to the dusty large basketball courts, I start to think to think about what I have been doing in my life. Over the weekend all I have been doing is staying home playing fortnite, and watching YouTube. I finally realized that this isn’t a good way to spend my time so I knew I had to go outside. As I kept on walking to my ten minute destination the wind started to blow and dust started getting into my eyes. I kept on thinking about my time management and how I will need that in high school. When I finally took a left after walking straight for ten minutes I finally arrived at the park. Seeing the red and blue slides and the dark red mulch I was in awe. I finally entered the courts and played basketball with a couple kids for about an hour. I played a total of three games and my teams record was 2-1. On my way home the sky was not happy as it started to pour things we call water. Like I did on my way to the park I was not able to reflect on my future while heading home because I was too distracted on not getting my cellular device wet. All in all I am very happy that I left the house as I was able to explore my thoughts and explore my future.

                                        Fru Nkimbeng

Economy Literary Reflection

Fitz’s Class

4/11/19

Appreciating What You Have

To live a life fulfilled reflects on the

things you have with gratitude 

- Jaren Davis

   Words never felt so meaningful. in Fitz English class I am reading Walden, by David Henry Thoreau. We are currently on chapter one: Economy. This chapter has enhanced my knowledge in ways I couldn’t imagine. During Economy Thoreau tackles two topics:shelter and clothes. He gives on point facts and opinions about how the world today treats clothes and shelter, compared to how he thinks they should treat it. At first I was quick to agree with what he is saying but after reading this chapter again I realized there are parts that I disagree with.him.

Family over everything

Family and friends and hidden treasures.

Seek them and enjoy their riches

When asked what are the the true and most basic necessities in my life two things come to mind; family and hope. I don’t know what I would do without my family, they have been there for me since day one and I wouldn’t be the man I am without them. Through pain and discomfort my family has always been there for me and they are the ones who motivate me to succeed in life.

Fall

The start of school

The end of summer break

Begins football season

Catching up with friends

After not seeing them 

That’s what fall is about

The joy of touchdowns

Rushing to homecoming 

For the tasty treats

Eying the leaves fall

Hoping for snow to come

Enjoying the view

When I was writing about haikus about this season I thought of the things I look forward to most during spring. Football and catching up with my friends I haven’t seen in a while. I knew I needed to somehow incorporate that into my writing so that’s what I did. For my last haiku I took a different approach talking about the scenery fall brings. The technique I used for this season was narrowing and expanding, and images and action. 

Winter

The white fluffy snow

Forcing you to stay inside

While drinking co co

Basketball season

The time to do what I love 

Couldn’t ask for better

The Fenn tournament 

Facing against Fay school

Win game or go home 

The countless hours

Of shoveling in the cold

Just to repeat later

When I was writing my winter haiku poems I reflected on why winter was my favorite season, and the rest was easy. I look forward to this season since I love playing basketball so much. During my fenn varsity basketball season I always looked forward to the tournament and hopefully facing Fay in the finals as they were the top dogs. What I don’t look forward to is shoveling. I’m literally out in the cold for hours. Its horrible. The technique I used for this season  was images on action. I felt like winter is a season where I do a lot of cool things and I wanted the reader to be able to imagine that.

Spring 

Relaxing season

Sports I care about are done 

Now it’s time to chill

School applications 

The worst feeling in my life

Will things go as planned

The China essay

8 to ten pages of pain

For the grade I want

The game of tennis

The boring game of baseball

Memories at track

Spring is easily my least favorite season. The reason why is because the really isn’t any sport that I like so I don’t really do anything I find extremely fun to me. I just play sports because I have to. To go on with the fact that all the sports in spring are horrible it is also the season of school applications. The stress of finding out where you will be going next year is horrible. Lastly this 8-10 page China essay is just the cherry on top of why spring is my least favorite season. When I was writing my haikus of spring i used the images on images technique to create a picture of what happens during my spring season.

Summer

90 degree weather

Summer basketball league

Winning championships 

The joy of no school

The pain of not seeing friends

The blast of sleeping late

Vanilla ice cream 

Everlasting taste of goodness

Until the last lick

New songs coming out 

Listening to them on repeat

The joy of summer

For my summer haiku I decided to use an images on images approach. Summer is a great time and I wanted the reader to really see what happens during my summer season. 

A First Impression

Coming into class on Friday, I thought Fitz was going to continue to bore me about his love for the poems he wrote on Crows and Swallows. Man was I wrong. Friday was instead a class where we supposedly read the first chapter of Walden. The reason why I say supposedly is because unfortunately when Fitz was reading to the class, I was distracted and I didn’t notice what we were doing, until he asked us about the notes and quotes we took. I quickly panicked and asked for help from a friend, since I knew I didn’t have anything written down. After getting the quotes and finding where we were on the reading, I still was confused. I asked myself “Why are we doing this?” Why is Fitz forcing us to read a book we never will need in life? Little did I know after reading this chapter called economy, Thoreau would open my mind and make me explore my thoughts in ways I never knew. What I took away from this chapter was that life is changing, and quickly, so live in the moment because once it’s over, there’s no going back. “One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.” Another thing I took away was that Thoreau’s words always have a deeper meaning to them.

I Am Not Hungry

I am not hungry 

Then my eyes glance toward you

And I feel empty

Meta- when the time came to start this poem I was extremely hungry. I had gummies in my bag but I didn’t want to eat them. After time of fighting with myself I couldn’t resist and I decided to eat the gummies. I then turned this experience into a poem

Basketballs Jumping

Basketballs jumping 

Wit hope of making a shot

Just to realize you missed

Meta- basketball is my favorite thing to do and when I was stuck on what to write about I knew I could count on it. After figuring out my topic the rest just flowed and I was able to successfully right this haiku.

Who Is This Kid In The Mirror

Who is this kid in the mirror

7 foot 6 giant of handsomeness 

Dashing hair

Exquisite blue eyes

Perfectly ironed pants

With a Skin tone similar

To a bar of Nutella

O ya that’s right 

It’s Tacko fall, and 

He’s getting ready

For his Nba interview

Meta- after watching a nail biting win for duke I felt it was only right I talked about the game in any way I could. I decided to right about Tacko fall. A 7 foot 7 center who gave Zion Williamson (a projected top 3 pick in the Nba draft) some problems during the game. In the end I decided to add a twist that would make the reader keep thinking