Claudine Julien

My contribution to the art show. Broken shovels and found rocks.

Build a Slip N' Slide and mud wrestle with your friends. Trust me on this one, guys. Trust me.

Tal fitting Sydney with the shorts she upcycled from a sweater.

See The People passing
and their polite faces
pacing their way to perfection.
Positioned with a plethora
of possibility and protection,
they made mistakes
while learning new lessons.

The People were perfect
in plenty of ways - except
some People were persistent
on persecuting other People
who weren't perfectly the same.
These People decided
that the planet was theirs
but if any bad happened
the 'other' People were blame.

Possibly, while poking
through Polaroids and old pictures
of a past they didn't live through,
The People will remember to place
compassion in the present
to produce a prettier tomorrow.

Imagine the excitement
everyone would experience
once they were finally an equal race.
An exponentially extravagant
amount of expression
would fill this world
that lived without hate.

Absolutely all the accounts of kindness
would accumulate,
to the point where they would no longer
have to anticipate
angsty aggressors taking their own lives
or possibly becoming
an accomplice in a drive-by.

Whether followers of Christ
or readers of The Kuran,
The People had something
they were capable of agreeing upon:
the characteristics they coincidentally
were created with
was not a cemented sign of what
they could accomplish, but
if they combined their craniums
to confirm their cleverness,
they would realize
that they are destined for greatness.

Explore. Escape. Invoke. Engage.
Exercise your soul
with everlasting enlightenment.
Escalate your opportunities
until your opponents
offer you praise.

Each and everyone one of us
is enveloped into our own lives,
increasingly holding back
as united the world cries...
but, can you tell me
you know what its like
to stand up and try;
...to allow someone
to feed you boldfaced lies;
...to wake in the morning
and just want to cry;
...to looked a loved one in the eyes
as you slowly, s l o w l y,
watch them die.

We are experiencing experiences
while the sun describes
it's love to us
during each of these hours
we have developed to define.
So... how will you
design this divine
waste of time?

Because
I deserve it.

     So, yesterday I was on a long bus ride to school, studying for a test I was about to take. I was reading over my notes and was realized that I wasn't prepared at all. Instead of actually reading the material, though, I noticed that all I could do was hear that voice in my head. You know the one.
     The one telling me I was going to fail. That I should have studied more. That I'm never going to graduate if I keep it up. That voice that needed to shut the fuck up. I decided that, hey, if I'm not prepared, I'm not prepared... and trying to cram was definitely stressing me out even more. So I put my notes away, took out a pencil, and started drawing.
     The index card above was the outcome. I took a deep breath and felt so much better. I spent the rest of the bus ride writing positive messages that I plan to post in random places on my campus.
     I feel like sometimes in our pursuits, we forget to stop and realize that we will be okay. We are an amazing species who are capable of many great things... both individually, and as a race. Whenever you get that fucking voice in your head telling you that you can't do it, telling you that you suck, or you should have stayed home- make sure you let that voice know to FUCK OFF.

I have always held the strange
feeling that one day my life
would be taken
at the mercy
of another human being's
bad intentions