7 Days -- 7 Photos (Day 2, Monday)

This photo actually represents a lot of things for me. George Elliot Clarke is one of my favorite Canadian poets. I once wrote an essay about the way he uses line breaks and punctuation in his poem "Casualties" to emphasize the emotional impact he is trying to get across. I first became interested in politics when I was 15 and a teacher lent me a VHS (no, really) of Pierre Elliott Trudeau's funeral. Justin's speech was incredibly moving and heartbreaking and I ended up becoming fascinated with his father, a man who inspired such a huge outpouring of grief from the country when he passed away. From there I started paying more attention to Canadian politics in general and realized that it's important to know what's going on and to vote. I tried using my sister's I.D. to vote when I was 16, but got totally busted. Somehow I didn't get in trouble for that. It was technically an attempt at election fraud. Studying seems to be all I have time for during the school year, but right now our TA's at U of T are on strike and one of my classes has been cancelled. It is extremely frustrating as both sides are using the students as leverage against each other. Eventually when they finally come to an agreement, which they will, it will be the students who will be left facing the most consequences. Some are trying to graduate and move on with their lives, some will have to redo courses that they already paid for and set back their education, some face potentially losing their spots in grad school because they wont have their marks in time. All of us have missed out on learning, which is supposed to be the reason to go to school. They are coming up with solutions so that we can pass and get the credits, but for the classes that have been on hold, we have missed lectures and assignments that would have translated into knowledge and learning opportunities. They can't give that time back to us, even if they do let us pass the classes. I'll say it again, it is extremely frustrating, and the uncertainty and anger affect our ability to learn properly in the courses that are still running. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens and keep up with the readings.

View From my Bedroom Window -- 2015.03.21

This is a photo of the view from my bedroom window. I feel like that is pretty evident from the title, actually. The point of it is really just to remind myself to take more photos, be more creative, and to look around for inspiration.

I recently read a book called "The life-changing magic of tidying up", and it really is life-changing. I'm a tidy person. I clean houses to make money for school, and I keep my own house clean. I'm the type of person who likes to alphabetize my books, and make my bed properly every morning. I bought the book because it sold 2 million copies, and while I don't normally choose books because of their position on the bestsellers list, I thought it was such an unexpected subject to be so popular that I was intrigued. I had assumed that tidying would not be a subject that would become a bestseller, and that it was something I already knew enough about. I was wrong. I learned a lot from this book, not just about how to tidy, but about how to enjoy my things, and feel good about my life. The book is basically an instruction in how to get rid of things, and not feel bad about it. There are always things people keep because they feel guilty or anxious about letting go of them, either because they think they might be useful one day, they were given as a gift, or they were expensive. Whatever the reason, most people have way too much stuff and it prevents us from enjoying any of it. It also tells you how to organize your things, but the key is throwing out or donating everything that doesn't "spark joy" and then going from there. I'm not doing it justice, but it really is fantastic. I got rid of 16 garbage bags worth of things and clothing that I did not need and I feel so much better.

So, back to the photo. Part of purging and tidying up was looking through a lot of things I had packed in boxes and forgotten about. I re-discovered a lot of old art work, writing, and photographs from the past and came to the realization that I used to love doing creative things. Taking photos and writing especially, but I also enjoyed drawing, painting, sewing, and just trying out different artistic and creative mediums. Somewhere along the way I think I got self-conscious, or scared, or embarrassed, or something else, and I kind of stopped making things. What I should be embarrassed about is letting my insecurities prevent me from doing things that I love, and sharing them with people, even if they aren't perfect, and could be better.

"When you feel inspired, or have an idea, stop whatever you are doing and follow the inspiration. It's very difficult to rekindle the spark once it goes out and impossible to conjure up on command." -- Margaret Qiao, The Photographer's Playbook