My Favorites

As my favorite poem, I chose leaf falls (loneliness) by e.e. cummings as one of my favorite poems at this point in my life. e.e. cummings speaks to solitude in this poem and he reflects on the peacefulness of solitude through the metaphor of a leaf. The play on the word loneliness and oneness, to me, speaks to solitude and quietness; this is reflected through both the action of the leaf falling and the concrete way cummings' structure echos this fall. This poems speaks to me for a couple reasons. First, I love the fall season; I love the change in seasons. That nothing remains constant and the heat of summer dies out with the cool rush of fall; there is something about the smells, sounds, weather that is comforting. Second, I appreciate moments of quiet; I don't have many of those moments at this time in my life. As a mother of two boys, a wife, a full time teacher, a two-season coach, a friend, a sister, a daughter; I don't have many moments alone at all. In fact, I have even chosen not to have a cell phone, nor any means of instant communication that I carry with me for this specific reason. Despite the constant nagging and teasing from my family and friends, I am quite content with my decision. It affords me the moments of solitude where like the leaf, I am able to let go of being connected to everyone for just a moment

As a favorite piece of art, I picked the Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. First, I selected this piece as my favorite because I connect with the Surrealist movement; the line between fiction and reality, dreams and awakening, imagination and logic. Dali's work reminds me that reality is a concept determined by perspective not a determined absolute truth. The Persistence of Memory is a fantastic representation that the perception of time and how much that differs from person to person from experience to experience.

As a favorite film I chose Wasteland by Lucy Walker. Wasteland is a fantastic film that details the construction of art through the use of garbage and the reconstruction of lives through art. Through the creation of art, garbage pickers in Rio De Janiro realize that their lives are worth more than the garbage they pick. For me, this film represents the worth that all human beings should feel despite their circumstances and the necessity of changing our perspectives in order to re-evaluate our lives.