All posts by Kylie Stewart, Correspondent

Arts and Entertainment

‘the sun and her flowers’ poetry review

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In honor of National Poetry Month ending, I thought a poetry book review was a wonderful way to close off the month. the sun and her flowers is written by Rupi Kaur, a famous Instagram poet, and as of January 5th, 2020, it held the #1 spot on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 76 weeks.

Throughout reading the book, I noticed there is some sort of plot line throughout the poems/book. The poems start off being dark and depressing. Some talk about addiction, while others talk about heartbreak and “using” someone within a relationship. The second part titled “falling,” was also depressing and talks about “self-harm,” “self-hatred” and over all just being depressed.

The first two sections are mostly about how it feels to be depressed. Which I understand it is nice to reach out to the audience who is struggling with their mental health to try to tell them, “Hey, you’re not alone,” but I also think that some of the poems are rather “cheesy.”

For example,

“like the rainbow

after the rain

 joy will reveal itself

                after sorrow” (89)

I just think that some of the poems are ones that you would read on social media, and not expect to find within a book.

The next section, titled “rooting,” is all about immigration. For example, a lot of the poems talk about coming over on a boat, being an outcast to society due to being an immigrant, and overall, how life is as an immigrant.

Personally, this is my favorite section from the book. However, there is still some “cheesy” poems. For example, there is a “two-liner” that reads,

“my mother sacrificed her dreams

so I could dream” (148)

Which do not get me wrong, it is a sweet little ballad to her mother, but it is slightly repetitive due to dream being in there twice and it is also very cliché. Most immigrants give up their own lives in their home nation, to provide a better life for their family. And that is apparent throughout the whole section, but this little “poem” seems to me that she needed to extend the section another page, so she added this in.

These next two sections are about coming out of the hard place that was presented at the beginning of the book, within the first two sections. I have noticed throughout her books that this is a normal “plot” arch. I have previously read, milk and honey, which was somewhat the same “plot.”

The beginning starts off with a dark and depressing tone, while the last section is always more uplifting and brighter, like a resolution to the problems.

Overall, from reading Rupi Kaur’s book, the sun and her flowers. I do think that there are a lot of cliché poems within the book. Or simple “poems,” that are not truly poems, that would be better left on Instagram then in the book.

I do appreciate her writing, and I understand that this is the modern wave of poetry, and I do plan to read her other book, home body, this summer. I do expect to see some similarities, like the clichés, within this book. Nonetheless, without looking at this book from a poetic standpoint, it is a light read that allows the reader to escape their everyday life to indulge in someone else’s.

I think that this is a strong factor in a good book, but I do think that even if the book was shorter without some of the cliché two-line poems, that it would be even better. Plus, some of the YouTube critics might lighten up a bit about their heavy dislike of “Instagram Poetry.”

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Celebrating Earth Day

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With Earth Day here on April 22, many people celebrating. Personally, I think that every day should be celebrated like Earth Day, because it’s not like the Earth only comes around once a year! However, let’s look at some ways that NECC students can celebrate this year in person, and remotely.

Sadly, due to the pandemic there are more virtual celebrations rather than in-person, but that isn’t stopping you from masking up and stepping outside!

Some ways to celebrate this year could be to clean up some town or state parks that may be close by.

There are many state parks in the surrounding towns that definitely are in need of some TLC this time of year. There is a state park in Newburyport that you and some friends could visit for a hike and try picking up some trash you find along the way! If trees aren’t really your style there is also Salisbury, Seabrook, or Hampton beach that are very nice to visit and in between some trash grabbing there are also some huge shells to find.

These beaches are about a 20 minute drive from the Haverhill campus, and the Maudslay State Park in Newburyport is about 15 minutes away.

There are virtual celebrations all across the nation that can be found online, too. But if celebrating in your house on your computer isn’t really your thing, then you could always set up a zoom meeting with your friends and start planting some flowers or vegetables in the comfort of your own home or backyard. Personally, I think that I might reach out to some of my friends that go to NECC and set something like that up.

There are also ways to celebrate Earth Day all year long. Some ways to celebrate or just be more environmentally conscious overall could be to start recycling more. Yes, your household may already recycle, but do you wash your cans out before putting them in the bin or did you know that the plastic tops on water bottles cannot be recycled? There is always more room for growth and learning.

Some other ways to recycle are to make DIY’s out of the things you recycle. For example, the individual egg holders in egg cartons are great for propagating a plant or starting a new one altogether, or a painted vegie can make a great pencil holder or a pot for a plant. You could also start using reusable water bottles instead of the plastic ones, or if you are using the plastic water bottles you can refill them a few times before recycling, instead of just letting them pile up in your room until your mom finds out. There are recycling bins that can also be found all over the campuses, so be diligent in what you’re throwing away.

Celebrating Earth day for the 51st year in 2021 is going to be different than the 49 years before the pandemic; however, there isn’t a wrong way to spread awareness of how we’re affecting the environment or little ways we can help. Unless it is violent awareness. Then chances are it’ll be a wrong way to spread awareness. Stay safe this Earth Day, mask up and spread awareness.

 

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You are you, not your diagnosis

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Joseph, Joey, Stewart, 17, was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 11, after having his first seizure on Mother’s Day, 2012. Now, he is about to start college a year early to pursue his dream of becoming a history teacher. He overcame many obstacles throughout his high school career due to his epilepsy, as he explained to me.

Stewart explained is medical diagnosis in both the general term and what it is for him personally. He explained “Epilepsy (in general) is a neurological disorder. It is, in lame man’s term, is when the neurons in your brain fire at excessive rates. It can be caused by trauma or by a hormone imbalance.” However, he went on to explain that “I live with Rolandic epilepsy. It is when the hormonal imbalance that happens during puberty or adolescence causes the increased brain activity. When I have an epileptic episode, it can feel like I ran 10 miles in 3 minutes. I am more apt to have a seizure while I am sleeping.”

Epilepsy prohibited Stewart from many things throughout high school, but the biggest thing was football. This was due to it being a high contact sport, and if he were to receive a head injury while playing it could send him into a seizure or a series of multiple with a high chance of them not being able to stop them from happening. The first doctor Stewart saw completely prohibited him from playing; however, this doctor did not stay in his life very long due to other issues.

When Stewart got his new doctor, it was the same doctor that his mother had during her teenage years because the diagnosis was hereditary. That doctor was the first person to believe that Stewart could play, he just had to be more cautious than the other kids. Stewart goes on to explain that football was a setback in high school, “because 90% of people thought that I couldn’t do it, or would never do it, so I had to work twice as hard to prove them wrong.”

Although he pegs this as one of the largest setbacks within his student career thus far, he was a captain on JV and would have went on to play for the varsity team this year if it was not for the COVID-19 pandemic.

To look at who Stewart is as a person, I asked how he would describe himself, he said “the first thought that comes into my head… Stubborn…” He goes on to explain his strengths and weaknesses, and he believes that his biggest strength is “determination and perseverance because I learned to never be satisfied and to always expect more from myself and always push myself to learn more and to always better myself.”

While his weakness was overthinking, which I believe many people struggle with now-a-days.

I asked Stewart how his student career has been affected by his diagnosis, both positively and negatively. Negatively it affected him due to the side effects of finding the correct dose of medication which made him moody, and more hostile. Luckily it is affecting him less now, but he still thinks that it was one of the big negative effects. When asked about how it has helped him (the positive effects), he said “It taught me that life isn’t fair. It also taught me to never expect things to go my way.” He also said that he  would  “Try to expect the unexpected, while trying to stay optimistic.”

I also was interested in why Stewart chose NECC for his early college plans he said “I chose NECC because it is where both my sister and my mother go to college, and they both highly recommend it. But also, because it is a program that is offered through my high school.” He also explained in an earlier question that his family is some of his biggest supporters, so it makes sense that he would want to follow in some of their footsteps.

While wrapping up the interview I asked some closing questions about advice that he would like to share to others who may be struggling with a medical diagnosis and schooling, and if there was anything else he would like to share with about his diagnosis. When asked about his own diagnosis he said he learned that “a diagnosis of any kind does not make the person, learning to live with a disorder or diagnosis is no difference than learning to live with the stresses of life that an everyday person would have to learn.” He also said that he learned, “I feel like someone with a diagnosis learns to appreciate life more and they learn more about themselves throughout a shorter amount of time. Because you have this disorder that you are living with that you cannot ignore, so you are forced to focus on yourself more than you would like to help your mental statis to stay positively in check.”

He gave a lot of advice to people who may be struggling through schooling with their diagnosis as well. The advice he gave that pertained to everyday life was “learn to incorporate [the diagnosis] into who you are, live with it but do not let it consume you,” as well as “Support the organizations that support your diagnosis. (be a member of the community that you are forced to be in).” Although his life advice is very wise for a 17-year-old boy, his school advice was superb.

He said “don’t use [your diagnosis] as an excuse, be open with teachers if your diagnosis is the reason for your performance being affected (late work, missed class, etc). Try to let them know as soon as possible, don’t make them wait. Speak first.” He goes on to better explain this advice through his own diagnosis, “it’s one of those things that if I have a seizure and I can’t turn in an assignment, I would arrange with them to turn it in next time I see that teacher.” The whole thing with me, that if I had a seizure and did not do an assignment, I would not tell the teacher that it is unfinished due to my seizure, but I would tell them I did not finish it, period. My assignment should have been done before I went to bed, so it is not my seizure that made me not do it, it was my conscious decision or forgetfulness.”

I think that the best advice he gave is necessary for everyone to hear, diagnosis or not. He said “Don’t be afraid to [eff] up. It is inevitable for everybody.”