This assignment required me to create a poem from the trending topics on Twitter.

This poem is about my character, Folami Turay, and it helps to describe her powerful attitude and general aesthetic.

Ami

The #RoyalRumble sounds as she walks down the street. It’s not Valentine’s Day

but she adorns her finger #WithThisRing the size of Richmond. She’s her own

#MissUniverse and her bag isn’t just Coach, it’s #Coach1K.

Not that she can’t get a man; she can hold them down like Roman Reigns

But why bother? Men as fit as Justin Anderson falter under her gaze

And men like Josh Gordon get addicted to the idea of her, as if she were

A one-dimensional character from a show like #RHOA.

She’s her own hero and she’ll keep it that way.

Here is my poem about the character I created, Billy “Saw” Steel, using the hottest Twitter Trends. It is called “Chain Saw”

If Billy Steel was an #NHLAllStar

It would be for his fists.

He’s tough as nails, and

He’d knock out Oliver Twist.

His family life’s a mess

Kid didn’t live to be a teen

His fights with his wife

Comparable to the #blizzardof2015

In the streets of Detroit

No one stands in his way

Not even JB or 1D

If it happened that way.

With his beloved shotgun

He keeps the gangs humble

Because they know he’d win

If it came to a Royal Rumble.

They sent me to Greece to monitor the problems
the problems with Syriza and Tsipras –
to make sure that the Greece Elections
weren’t going to fall apart, but

all I can do is listen and listen
to Ed Sheeran. Maybe it’s because
I don’t know if I am in love
am I in love?
What is love?

Is it when I’m willing to sit here in London
Wishing I was with my love, eating Chilean desserts?
Maybe it is watching Top Gearwith my friends, while only
wanting to be with you.

But this, this is my Public Duty, this is what I have to do
My boyfriend is no Robbie Savage or Rosicky, but I still love him
with all my heart.

Sitting together, we could probably do better
movie reviews than UkipFilmTitles.

That’s it
I’ve decided
I think I am in love.
Forget these Greece Elections.
—–

Wow. I really didn’t think this would be as difficult as it was. I was scrolling through the assignments and found: Twitter Trends Turned Lyrical Poetry. And I thought, okay Mariah, let’s see what this journalism major as taught you about poetry. The answer….nothing. I’ve never really been the creative type. I have a lot of sass, but I’m pretty straight forward and just say what I am thinking. Poetry was never my thing, and after this, I still don’t think it is.  The first time I took a stab at making this poem, I just went with good ol’ FredVegas as my location. And this is what I got:

What does someone even do with that? Come on Fred, do better next time. So I decided that I wanted to be adventurous and see what was happening somewhere else. I’m currently trying to plan a summer-post graduation trip to London (haven’t told the parents this so I hope they don’t figure the internet out anytime soon), so I went to see what was happening there, and WOW – they really gave me something to work with. They also seem more interested in the Greece elections, which I really appreciate, because apparently I’m the only one around here that cares about those…

So after getting my thoughts together, I thought that I would use this poem to expand on my character, Bev, and write a poem from her perspectives. So I screenshotted (Google Chrome says this is not a word, but it is now) the trends, put them in my new post and just started writing about things that interested Bev. And the result was that beautiful piece of poetry before you.

I think this assignment is interesting. It really allows you to use social media in a different and unexpected way that ends in some form of art. I don’t think I would ever submit this poetry for an award, but at least I have something to show my parents one day This assignment does what UMW as a whole does – it forces you to think, come up with a plan and apply it in a creative way, so hats off to the creator!

The following text is a poem inspired by today’s trendiest Twitter topics, as seen in the image below:

Note: Please do not take this poem seriously.

(image captured on 1/24/15)

Forty five seconds was all it took

for Sarah Palin to accept her BET Honors award;

she waved it in the air, declared, I am freedom.

The UFC guys in Stockholm watched from their barstools. They had no choice.

The bartender refused to change the channel back to Grease 2.

The bartender whispered along with Sarah, I am freedom.

Unknown in the night breeze, Ernie Banks got on one knee

in front of Anthony

Johnson. Anthony was beside him

self. With this ring,

he proclaimed, I am freedom.

Future Life

Write out the history of your future life as if you were featured in a textbook. Make it about college life and what you want to pursue afterward!

Story Behind the Story 

Since I was 16 I have known what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a high school English teacher. Although with my level of impatience and sarcasm, one would think I would cringe at the thought of being stuck in a classroom with angst filled teenagers every day. However, when I am in the classroom, something just clicks. The same thing happened when I was accepted to the College of Education at the University of Mary Washington. Something just made sense. Whenever I entered a classroom, I wanted students to learn. I wanted to help them and show them that education was more than just something we are required to do. Each time I was given the opportunity to teach, I didn’t want to just teach, I wanted to be able to make it applicable and interesting. I always added some creative element or a way to relate to students (although I am sad to say I dated myself by thinking that a sixth grade class would have read Harry Potter, apparently it is not as big of a deal to them. I just couldn’t believe it). That is part of the reason I registered for this course. I wanted to be able to make English more than just the traditional reading and writing. I want students to see that writing can be in a blog or through posting a video. Heck it can even be seen by photoshopping a cat and a synthesizer in outer space.

This assignment just shows how many different branches spread from something as simple as “writing.” Writing doesn’t have to mean flowery language or excessive imagery. It can be whatever you make it. I also like these types of assignments because they seem simple but in actuality they require a lot of thought. It requires one to think of a particular style of language and forces the writer to write in a different perspective.

Work Itself

Kelsey Roach graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 2015. She spent four years studying English and Secondary Education. While most students enter college with little knowledge about their majors or what career field in which to enter, Roach faced college with a clear vision.

Like any college freshmen, some focus went to socialization and enjoying her youth. Being forced to take mundane General Education classes such as Statistics and Biology, she was hit hard by the overwhelming expectations of college work. She soon discovered the college GPA scale was drastically different than High School. It was a balancing act the first year: wanting to hang out with friends and have fun versus sitting at home hunched over a textbook. High School had been easy; Roach had coasted, not really giving much thought to the importance of grades and GPAs. It was a hard hit when college showed her to become more responsible. She even turned into a little bit of a grab grubber: giver her an 89 instead of a 90 and the world turned on its head. A B versus and A became astronomical.

Once she was accepted to the College of Education, Roach began to observe real world classrooms and teach mini lessons to a variety of levels. With this adult persona, she became even more invested in her education as well as the value of early preparation in schools. She didn’t want others to experience the same “catch-up” game she had to play in her first year of college.

Roach’s balancing act became more attainable when she realized what was truly important. By the end of her four years, she had studied multiple genres and periods of literature and expanded her knowledge of English as a discipline. Her one goal throughout this process was to read every classic or canonical piece of literature she could find.

Having obtained Dean’s List four semesters in a row, Roach graduated from undergrad in 2015. She went on to pursue Graduate school to get her Masters in educati0n. Once she had finished, Roach was selected for the opportunity of a life time to work with Fullbright. Fullbright is one of the most prestigious programs in education in which teachers apply for places all over the world in order to teach abroad. It is also one of the most competitive organizations to be accepted to.

She spent a year abroad, traveling to multiple places such as London, Dublin, Valencia, and Malta to name a few. While some visits were purely for fun, Roach also used the time to discover the numerous education systems that make up each culture.

Upon arriving back in the United States, she took the opportunity to move to a New York. She had no connections, only the desire to keep living in new places. She currently teaches at a public school in New York and continues to pursue the exploration of education.

Narrate the Process

This process took me longer than I had anticipated. I kept deleting and re-writing sentences. Sometimes I would feel like I sounded too much like an “English” major and other times I thought it sounded too simple. It was hard to write in a different voice. I found myself flipping through some old textbooks and trying to emulate the language. It was a step out of my comfort zone but it helped to keep referring back to examples.

As difficult as it was to write in this voice, writing should take you out of your comfort zone. It should force you to change the way you think. If we constantly write in the same way, for the same purpose than what is the point of writing?

It was even harder to write about the future. I thought I knew what I wanted, and while teaching abroad is still a big ticket item on my list, it was hard to say where. I couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted when I got done with teaching abroad. This post made me realize that there are so many routes to take and giving concrete answers are impossible. So while doing this assignment, it also gave me an opportunity to reflect on the future.

As I combed through the aisles
of Walmart
searching
searching
searching
for an Xbox. But I cannot stop thinking about that
Triangle that Wayne was holding yesterday. Why
was he holding it? What
was he doing with it? He was supposed to be
in Wilmington. He was supposed to find The Boy
Next Door. We’re running out of time now.
It’s almost Valentine’s Day. He’ll be be expecting
a Super Bowl, but all I see on the TVs at Walmart is Theo
Pinson and Cat Barber. 
I don’t even want the Xbox. 

When I came across the Twitter Trends Turned Lyrical Poetry, I was immediately intrigued by the idea. I love the idea of creating poetry out of unexpected things, and I also love the comedy that Twitter trending topics would surely provide.

When I logged on to Twitter, the trending topics were not, well, necessarily appropriate on this Friday evening. Luckily, Twitter allows you to change the area of your trend list. It can be worldwide or specific to a certain location. So I switched over to Raleigh, NC because, why not see what that collective is talking about tonight.

I screenshotted the trends and started to connect similar things in my mind, but then realized these wouldn’t all connect. I guess I would have to get creative. The idea I originally had for my poem didn’t pan out because once I did some googling I learned that ‘Cat Barber‘ is a basketball player, which is not what I originally thought (yes, yes, I thought it was one who cuts the hair of cats).

I really enjoyed this assignment and think it’s a great representation of this course. I love the idea of taking one medium and turning it into something completely different. No one would ever expect the peculiar, random things that pop up on Twitter trends to become a poem, but I actually think it came together in a pretty interesting way. I never would have thought of combining two mediums like Twitter and poetry, and that’s why I enjoyed this assignment – it really prompted me to think creatively.

This assignment really had my creative juices flowing. With twitter trends being something I check up on everyday, I thought it would be fun to write a poem that included the current trends. Well, writing this at around 10 pm gives you a lot of TV show trends….which are hard to work with when you have NO IDEA what they mean. But here are the trends at the moment I screenshotted them!

Now, some of these trends were fun to work with, and others? Well I’m sure you’ll be able to tell in my poem/rap song which ones I struggled with. But here we go! 

I have way too much power so this line is at the top,

But it’s an introduction so lets let the beat drop

The 90s in 4 words? Come on you threw hard ball.

Who loves orange soda? But I Gotta catchem’ all?

Now you want something hard? Swallowing the facts isn’t fun

But the facts are so real, if you’re not honest you should run.

If you’re gonna keep running its best you stay far away

Cause liars don’t get hugs on National Hug Day.

When Barack Obama makes this holiday official

We will Ask Andrew if it’ll really be beneficial.

BUT HOLD ON WHO IS AT LAX? Louis and Eleanor have arrived?

Without this knowledge I most definitely wouldn’t have survived!

Now back to national hugging, will Bobby Jackson be invited?

I think I saw him once, and I would love to be reunited.

#SKINstead isn’t a real thing… but this trend has the cast elated,

I guess I’d have to watch the show to make this line related.

To finish up this story, I’m sure you’d really like to know,

What happened to the liar who ran right into a freak show.

Well if you really need to know here is the honest truth,

You can find his fate on the AHS Finale, but don’t watch it with your youth.

*note the trends are underlined.

I had so much fun writing this, but it definitely wasn’t easy. I think the hardest part was figuring out what the hashtags I didn’t know meant…. #SKINstead? What? After careful research (aka google) I still have not figured out what it actually means. I do know that it comes from Chicago PD, and Sophia Bush (who should ditch Chicago and head back to Tree Hill) was SO EXCITED that it was trending. The other one I struggled with was power top. I also really don’t know what that is..but I made it work. That was part of this assignment. One I liked working with included National Hug Day. Who doesn’t love hugs? Also, finding rhymes with day proved to be pretty easy. For 4 words that describe the 90s, I tried doing 4 individual words, but I thought these two phrases fit perfectly. [Who loves orange soda? But I Gotta catchem’ all?] 

You had to make everything fit together somehow, which was a challenge. Also, let’s be real. Who cares that Louis and Eleanor are at LAX? Those directioners take over twitter way too often..(but if you wanted to steal his girl, knowing where they were would be the first step). Another thing I found challenging was rhyming. Now I know that raps and poems don’t necessarily have to rhyme, but I’m really picky and prefer it to rhyme. It definitely looks neater and in my opinion flows better. If you struggle, like me, to come up with rhymes, I reccommend using RhymeZone. You just type in the word you want to find a rhyme for and it breaks it down BY SYLLABLE and if the word has no rhymes, it will try and find like rhymes, which are also a great substitute. I spent a lot of time on RhymeZone mostly because I would have a word set, but then I couldn’t find a rhyming word that fit the poem. So by trying different options I was able to create my masterpiece.

This assignment seemed fun and challenging, which is one of the main reasons I chose it. I love to be creative and work with words (it is a lot different than working with numbers, which is what I’m used to). It is important to be able to work with what is going on around you. Twitter trends are constantly changing, and it really gives you a sense of what people are talking about, and what is really important to people. Twitter is a great outlet for these kinds of things. Staying up to date on what is hip, or what is concerning people, or just what people are interested in helps you stay connected with the world, which is important. While you might not care that Eleanor and Louis have arrived in LAX, it is obviously a big enough deal that it would be trending nationwide (or just a bunch of 12 year olds have been tweeting obsessively). But either way, it is still something that is happening where we live, and you never know who you will meet the next day that has a connection to it!