Old News is Also Some News

Hello Readers

Happy silent days, only because my campus is so quiet. I have to make sure I get to my dorm by 8:30pm so that I do not become a witness to a bunny being ripped apart by a deer or a wild goose. That will not be the topic for discussion.

Did you know I had another blog on wordpress? Well I left it, like, we broke up because I created it in my junior year and I feel like that's the best excuse I can come up with right now. I have some really corny poems over there, how embarrassing. But I also have some great quotes from authors and other lovely things I want to share:


"The original oppression of Woman was based on crude denigration. She caused Man to fall, so she became a scapegoat. No, not a scapegoat which might be blameless but a culprit richly deserving of whatever suffering Man chose thereafter to heap on her. That is Woman in the Book of Genesis. Out here, our ancestors, without the benefit of hearing about the Old Testament, made the very same story differing only in local color. At first the Sky was very close to the Earth. But every evening Woman cut off a piece of the Sky to put in her soup pot, or in another version, she repeatedly banged the top end of her pestle carelessly against the Sky whenever she pounded millet or, as in yet another rendering – so prodigious is Man’s inventiveness, she wiped her kitchen hands in the Sky’s face. Whatever the detail of Woman’s provocation, the Sky moved away in anger, and God with it." Chinua Achebe


I remember liking this poem because of the word tintinnabulation!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells –
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

-By Edgar Allen Poe



I can't stop laughing at this one. I wrote it when I was 12. Fresh of the airplane. I blame my librarian for sparking the muse of poetry. 

These books are crying for you,
As you cry for food.
They are of many kinds of mysteries
Than you can think of its history

While you search for a book to take
The others yell ” have me for thy sake”
For if they are really what are wanted
Then that is what you have decided

A kingdom full of wonderful stories
Makes you feel peaceful and takes you out of your worries
Having to let these books enlighten you
One must have the title that says “I’ll do”

So My Summer is Over!

Hello lovely readers,

Instead of apologizing about my inconsistencies I will just start writing. But, you know of course that I am sorry for not posting regularly. I am like the ex-boyfriend who still has a good reason for breaking up with you. But dear,dear, we are still together, so there is no reason to worry.

I think this summer has been the most eventful and the most interesting (don't worry, I am gathering more vocabulary words to make my writing a little bit more exciting.)


1. My Fear of Pigeons

 No, there is no heroic story of how I got attacked by a fleet of pigeons and embraced them gracefully. That will all be a horrific lie. I am not even over this fear. I keep rethinking about why I am scared of pigeons in the first place. I had a conversation with one of my coworkers and told them " I am scared they will fly in my face and slap me with their wings." Then he asked, " and what happens after that?" Rachel, so what happens after a pigeon slaps you in the face and flies back into the blue sky? Well, I will get up and walk away. I think that is a great way to think about your fear. What happens after you face it? Hopefully not death. But that the after thought is a good conditioning for your brain. In my case, nothing. Nothing.

2. My Fear of Dogs
I think it's just the excessive barking, no, the deepness of the voice behind the barking. Yes, and the verocious nature of their teeth when they yawn. I had a lunch date with my professor last week and I was hoping with all the hope left in the rains of California that the dog would magically disappear from her home or that we would eat lunch outside. Alas, God had very different plans. The minute I got out of the elevator, Penelope started to bark. So I called my professor, "can you please put her in a cage, I am scared." She laughed and said, "there is no cage, just push the door and come in." At that moment, I could have turned around and just left. Lunch couldn't have been that tasty. So, I took in a deep breath and realized the world was not waiting for me to stop being afraid.  "I will hold her but she will have to come and smell you." DEAR LORD!! I just want lunch.
So I passed by this dog and went into the kitchen, but I was followed. Fear is funny, it just stares at you in the face and yawns and expects you to either run away or pat it on the head. I sat down, but I had left my whole consciousness outside the door. I was honestly, not totally afraid. I just wasn't confident to run. Does that even make sense?
"Rachel, can you take this to the kitchen, but when you get up, she will follow you." Misss, Professor, can you please not! Control your dog! I don't like dogs. I said all of this of course not to anyone's hearing.  The complete story is for another day. But all I can say is that I fed Penelope and I left feeling that I could be left alone with her.

3. SIX FLAGS, SURRENDER FLAG! Roll those coasters off my list!
There's nothing worse than having to ride roller coasters as part of your job. There's nothing better than having to ride roller coaster as part of your job! I worked with BELL this summer and the students were sent on a trip every Friday. The best part of this job was that I could do all these cool things for free and still get paid: bowling, Skating, Movies and SIX FLAGS.  All my 10 years in America, I had never been to Six Flags, just because it was never meant to be. But this summer it was meant to be because I really didn't have a choice. So, when we got there, I was so excited as I had to be for the group of students. Super excited because the challenge seemed so easy: get on roller coasters, scream, and pray it all ends soon. When you are further away from something, it seems small, easy, until you get closer to it. I am telling you the Kingda Ka is so scary, and no I didn't get on that so I could write a fabulous story about how I got over my fears. After the Nitro, I was angry at the world of roller coaster inventors for making this up: charge people money so they could be scared out of their mind. If you love this, then you must love what you love. But I am not going back!

4. SWIMMING-13ft
You all know how I love swimming. No, I did not go and swim in that(picture on right). I just can't find the pictures of my self in the pool. Tech does these things to you. Well, one Thursday evening in the water, I saw how deep 13ft feet was and decided to swim back to 4ft. But what is my point? That we are able to look at fear in the face but then we simply turn around. Wasn't it the same water though? Weren't there life guards around? Couldn't I swim? I laugh at myself.Well I went there, where my eyes were afraid to go, with the kick board and I didn't die. Even after I had been there once, my heart still fluttered every time I went there.


5. EVANGELIZING
Of Course, the devil is a major device in this fear, but He has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, power and of a sound mind (2nd Timothy 1:7). Yeah okay, but don't leave me with lions or anything. What bothered me the most about telling people about God was that I didn't think they would believe me. I was scared that people would ask me questions I had no answers to. I was not even good with memorizing scripture. But, I was so happy to have joined my youth group to share the gospel. I hope at least someone received some healing. I just thought of it as having a conversation with someone. The first time was not as eventful as the second. This is where my fear of dogs makes sense. My friend and I were telling a man, "God loves you," when we heard two of his tiny chihuahua's barking, not on leash: why don't these people ever put their dogs on leash. I told my friend, "I'm scared of dogs" and her reply was "Me too." We walked away laughing only to turn back and to see these two tiny dogs were chasing after us. I didn't run but my friend had left me and thrown the pamphlets on the ground. I just stood there telling the dogs to stop and telling the owner to come get them. He just sat there, as if I did not even exist. Dogs must always retreat to their owners.


Get over your fear, don't let them get to you.

                                                                               

Old Poems for New Friends

Hello All.

Here is a cold poem for a warm day. Happy Friday. There are so many interesting things I am learning this week. I will definitely write about that later. As for now, enjoy.


The snow rushed down

Like pulverized clouds

The orange leaves shivered

A white cat run away  

From a ginger dog

The white chunks wet

a night blue motorcycle.

Sunshine Rain

It rained today and I was touched by how so beautiful it was. Here is a poem and some pictures.

Sunshine rain

You come and go
as you please
and kiss the earth at ease
You clear the clouds
for the shine of the sun
and out pour water
so we can see

Like sunshine rain,
our love should be.
Tonight,
clear the clouds
but crown me
both sun and queen.

Sharing My Precious Poems

Hello lovely readers,

This month, I'll be sharing some of my favorite poems I have written so far. The first would be this one, because it was one of the first few poems I wrote when I began to take my poetry seriously.

As a child, living in the city of Accra, I spent a lot of time in the market which was loud, large, and yet so colorful and rich. I would do anything to make sure my Saturday afternoons were spent in the market instead of the quiet kitchen at home. I found that markets in New York were not the same as markets in Accra. I was highly disappointed because everything was too organized and I couldn't bargain for anything I bought... So mechanic. Here's a little bit of nostalgia in black ink and free verse.

A Taste of Accra

My feet in cold clay.
Dried  in the burning heat of Accra.
My wet kente lies on twisted blue ropes.

Welcomed by the high-pitched chattering of fat market
women. Sweet juice from red tomatoes and acid green peppers,
blend with the sourness of gari, dried fish, and wet snails.

A school girl squats near a Forget-Me-Not tree.
Her beige overalls sag between brown legs.
She bites into a purple Indian almond, waving away flies.

Peep! Peep! from long lines of lorries
standing under the orange sun.
Fading in the music, I hear
the invisible crickets wail,
and the pitiful moan
of the Christmas goat.

Finding Sebastian

I love this piece because i have no idea how I wanted to end it. Enjoy!

I only thought about him a few times after the bread incident. I couldn't go around  the whole schoool searching for guys who liked bread. But whenever I went to the cafeteria I made sure I got some bread and looked all over the cafeteria for a guy with curly hair. I think he had green eyes. I never took  time to observe.

But I found him. At the Lamont library cafe. I sat quietly scribbling what I thought was a good revision to a paper I had previously drafted. I lifted my head just in time to see his slightly bent back making it to the other side of the university. I just stared quietly. Excited. He lived near Lamont. Maybe he didn't ,but I had found him.

He never passed by Lamont whenever I was there, but one day I found him sitting a few feet away from my seat at the cafe. My heart raced with enthusiasm. I sat at my regular seat facing the door, with my back turned to him and his friends. They spoke Spanish. I couldn't piece the nouns and verbs and proverbs to create sensible English sentences. I simply waited. He passed by me and I whispered a soft "Hello." He must not have heard me in the very quiet library. My heart sunk deep. He was soon to return and I decided to smile. But he looked over my head. I sighed in frustration and scribbled nonsense on my paper. I stayed for a few minutes after he left but returned few days after. He was there this time and alone.

What is Your Smallest Fear ?

I read in an article yesterday that you're the only one responsible for your happiness. There is no relationship that can make you happier than you already are. So instead of waiting for someone to make you happy, you must search for it yourself and keep it in a box. When you're sad, open it slightly and let it blow over you like a cold breeze from the refrigerator on a hot day.
 
Swimming is my cold breeze. I didn't know how to swim from Adam. But, it looked so cool from a distance and I wanted to try it. The first time I stepped in the water was in 2013 and it felt so heavy. Only 4 feet of stress. So now  how do I swim? All you have to do is float and kick your leg in the water. What a simple task. I might sign up for the Olympics after. But I could barely let go, let alone float. After my first kicking session, I couldn't walk. So much pain. But, I came back the next day because my goal was to swim not to try kicking. After a few tries, I still couldn't float. So I gave up. I was only able to float and kick without holding to the wall after my roommate left for another conference. But, I found the urgency to finish my goal.

I continued this only for the summer of 2014 but still was in 4ft. How was I ever going to grow? 
This summer/spring I wanted to challenge myself. I would go into 7ft and then 13 feet. But, I would start with 4ft with the intention of never going higher. It so happened that the pool I swam in extended from 4-7ft. I didn't know and kept swimming with a kickboard. I was able to swim properly and only began to panic when I couldn't stand up. More like when my feet couldn't touch the ground.
I was embarrassed. I was doing fine until I knew.

There are many things you know today that is keeping you from taking a risk and enjoying what makes you happy. There was no way I could have drowned. There was a lifeguard, and my friend who could swim perfectly in 13ft water nearby. 

Oh, didn't also tell you I can swim backwards?