I like to think I was born on the planet Neptune. Of course, I know it’s not true because that’s not what I was taught, but it is nice to dream every once in a while. When I was a kid, I would like to say around the age of 6, I woke up to my mom making breakfast. The smell coming from the kitchen was beautiful, and it gave me warmth. I walked into the kitchen to see what she was making, and I decided to help. She was making eggs, pancakes and bacon for your typical American breakfast. She asked me to crack an egg, and this was the first time I ever had to crack an egg, so I was naturally nervous. It ended up dropping on the floor, but rather than get mad at me, she showed me how to do it again. Although I still didn’t get it right, I was learning.  

Where do words come from? How can we articulate? Is how we hear our voice the same as when others hear it? There is one thing that I hold dear to my heart, and you can almost say I’m my biggest critic when it comes to this. It’s poetry. When I was in 5th grade, we had an entire course where all we did was right poetry. It was amazing. I entered a poetry slam at lehman college that year, and let me tell you i was nervous as hell. Although I didn’t win it was the first time I had took my poetry and made it into spoken word. I found poetry very Intricate, and soon after it became my favorite hobby. I can’t tell you how many poems I’ve written, but I can tell you it’s over 300. That many poems would be enough to write a book. Learning how to write poetry really saved my life. Whenever I got into a depressive state, I would pull out my book or a piece of paper and write. Not only do you have to learn about the unique structures of your poem, but you have to expand your vocabulary. If you’re not constantly learning an unfamiliar word everyday you’re going to be stuck with all your poems sounding the same. Another reason I enjoy writing poems is because it allows me to have a bigger view of the words and phrases that we use and apply them to different situations in a story. I like to say poetry is very subjective to the reader with an aim for the writer. When I was in 10th grade I joined a poetry club, and I got to share out my poems with my peers every week. There was this girl I liked and she was my muse for almost every poem I would write. I remember her reading a poem about her that I wrote and she teared up a little, but that wasn’t enough to make her like me LMAO. I’m going to share with you one of my favorite poems about learning that I wrote. It’s called the process of knowledge.

Process of Knowledge

From the beginning to the end I start a new chapter

I was happy before and I’ll be happier after

This cycle of learning will never end 

For time and skill is something that will never bend

When you sharpen your knowledge, your time is more useful

For I have found that knowing a little of everything makes teachings more truthful

Learning the roots but the trees seems broken

Holding onto hope from the words this nature has spoken

Roaring winds and turned tables. How will I ever win?

The love that life gives for someone to just gift, How do these emotions spin?

But they spin and keep ongoing

And I smile while all my rhythms keep on flowing

As we wrap up my journey on poetry, I remembered how Jose Oliveraz, someone that also enjoyed poetry, said something in his essay that I really resonated with. He said, “There are facts and there are stories. Every fact can be turned into any number of stories.” That’s important to me because we all have that time when we’re learning something new, and we’re getting three different answers when there’s only one question. That’s something I struggled with a lot in middle school. Especially when I was learning about math, and I find that this issue happens a lot in that particular subject. There typically one answer to the equation, and about 20 other ways to solve. It’s honestly so fucking annoying that it makes my anger issues show even more than they do already.

Education is not only the ability to learn new information, but it’s also the ability to learn from others. That was one of my biggest take away’s from high school. You find yourself paying attention to people’s social cues, and observing the way others carry themselves. Now you’re not doing this because you’re nosy. You’re doing this because this is how you will choose your friends, and how you will know who to keep your distance from. Do you ever find it strange that after a month your brain suddenly knows where all your classes are. I’ve always wondered how does it remember the layout of a school. 

Now I’m in College and still have so much to learn. I chose to study hospitality management because food is my passion. Not only that, but because this industry is so hands on and keeps me up and on my toes. To sum up, we should all be curious about the way our brains work. I’m still growing and I’m still changing. Life as we know it doesn’t stay the same, and problems that were once there disappear and new ones arise. I may not know what my purpose is just yet, and I might learn something new that causes me to switch my career path. Even though you know what you want now, you may decide it’s not what you want later. Keep learning and keep on progressing, because it might just save your life one day.