Where I Come from Final

Home

Where are you from?

Chicago...

but no, not really

I live in a house with a jungle gym
and a patio in the backyard

In a neighborhood with block parties 

and neighbors that know each other far too well

with kids outside past dark in the summertime
running and inhaling the crisp, clean air as it blows past them

with no pointed gates and bolted doors

no bright lights at night

nothing but stars and branches in the pitch black sky 

It's a suburb just north of Chicago

but no its not a typical suburb

it is not an enclosed community

the neighborhoods are connected by a crossword of roads

with blocks of apartments, shacks, bungalows and mansions

not one home to be mistaken with another

then theres downtown 

with all of the big-name stores and people everywhere
 and restaurants emitting their unique aroma as if claiming their territory...
strolling down the sidewalk smells transform: 
from the tangy stir-fry of flattop
to greasy buffalo wings from Buff Joes
to Chipotle's spicy burritos
to scrumptious bakery goods from Bennisons
to the warm crisp crust of deep dish pizza
all in one block
displaying the diversity
that is this town

Isn't that where Northwestern is?

yes, but its not a typical college town.

The university lies on the edge--

The wildcats are incorporated into this community 

already rich in sports, arts, music, business and 

more

You want to know where I'm from?

go there, grow up there

plant your roots into its soil like the pine tree that towers over my house

no words can describe it, theres nowhere like it

I'm from Evanston and

theres no place like home

Poetry @ Tech Review: McDaniel, Sands, and Sharma

This was my first ever formal poetry reading. I didn't know exactly what to expect, but somehow I wasn't expecting so much humor. The majority of the session was lighthearted and humorous poetry.

The first poet, Sharma read two poems I really liked. The poem of his wife cooking had a clear rhyme scheme that made it enjoyable to listen to. It was also simply a cute message of how important his wife's cooking was to him. I like how he gave some real life context, admitting that it did motivate his wife to cook his favorite dish for a little while!
The  other poem of his, "Bottoms up Girl" was a humorous poem showing the vast contrast between the author himself and this girl he met at a bar. The line  "She's a bottoms-up girl and I drink in small sips", still sticks in my mind now, as I didn't have to write it down to remember it. He also preceded this reading with what made him write the poem in the first place--the experience at MIT.

The second poet, Sands, was much louder than sharma and at first the power in his voice took me by surprise. However, I really liked how loudly and clearly he projected his voice. It made it easy to comprehend and mull over the words he was saying. He was my favorite reader out of the three. Some of his commentary in between poems almost seemed like a stand-up comedy skit. His first poem was very relatable to teens, talking about the typical experience of partying on the weekends. He begins the poem comically but then turns serious addressing the dangers of drinking like that. It almost seemed a bit satirical.
His second poem was very personal to him. He explained how it was about his gay brother and his partner, and went into depth about their caring relationship.

The third poet Jeffery Mcdaniel had a more solemn tone, but still had humorous content in his poems. The seriousness of his voice in reading such outrageous lines is what made it comical. One line of his I wrote down was "complaining is like sex for old people". That line got shocked reactions and lots of laughs especially from his older audience.

I really enjoyed this poetry reading much more than I thought that I would. I love how each of these poems had a back story that inspired them to be written. It was also interesting to compare reading styles and writing content of the three poets.

Where I Come From 3rd draft

Home

Where are you from?

Chicago

but no, not really

I live in a house with a jungle gym
and a patio in the backyard

In a neighborhood with block parties 

and neighbors that know each other far too well

with kids outside past dark in the summertime
running and inhaling the crisp, clean air as it blows past them

with no pointed gates and bolted doors

no bright lights at night

nothing but stars and branches in the pitch black sky 

It's a suburb just north of Chicago

but no its not a typical suburb

it is not an enclosed community

the neighborhoods are connected by a crossword of roads

with blocks of apartments, shacks, bungalows and mansions

not one to be mistaken with another

then theres downtown

with all of the big-name stores and restaurants 

and people everywhere

Isn't that where Northwestern is?

yes, but its not a typical college town.
The university lies on the edge--

The wildcats are incorporated into this community 

already rich in sports, arts, music, business and 

more

You want to know where I'm from?

go there, grow up there

plant your roots into its soil like the pine tree that towers over my house

no words can describe it, theres nowhere like it

I'm from Evanston and

theres no place like home

In this draft I added the line "The university lies on the edge" in order to show that it wasn't the center of the town, as most college towns have the college as the focus. I changed the line from "with houses--each one drastically unique" to "with blocks of apartments, shacks, bungalows and mansions" to show the variety of houses in the city. Then I added the line "not one to be mistaken with another" to show how although in most suburbs when trying to find a house its easy to get confused because they all look so alike, but that is not the case here. 

Where I come from post 2

Where are you from?

Chicago

but no, not really

I live in a house with a jungle gym
and a patio in the backyard

In a neighborhood with block parties 

and neighbors that know each other far too well

with kids outside past dark in the summertime

with no pointed gates and bolted doors

no bright lights at night

nothing but stars and branches in the pitch black sky 

It's a suburb just north of Chicago

but no its not a typical suburb

it is not an enclosed community

the neighborhoods are connected by a crossword of roads

with blocks of houses-- each house drastically unique 

then theres downtown

with all of the big-name stores and restaurants 

and people everywhere

Isn't that where Northwestern is?

yes, but its not a typical college town.
The university lies on the edge--
its not the center of town

The wildcats are incorporated into this community 

already rich in sports, arts, music, business and 

more

You want to know where I'm from?

go there, grow up there

plant your roots into its soil like the pine tree that towers over my house

no words can describe it, theres nowhere like it

I'm from Evanston and

theres no place like home

Where I come from Poem

Where are you from?

Chicago

but no, not really

I live in a house with a jungle gym and patio in the backyard 

In a neighborhood with block parties 

with neighbors that know each other far too well

with kids in the summertime outside past dark

with no pointed gates and bolted doors

no bright lights at night

nothing but stars and branches in the pitch black sky 

It's a suburb just north of Chicago

but no its not a typical suburb

it is not an enclosed community

the neighborhoods are connected by a crossword of roads

with blocks of houses-- each house drastically unique (expand? shack, bungle, mansion)

then theres downtown

with all of the big-name stores and restaurants 

and people everywhere

Isn't that where Northwestern is?

yes, but its not a typical college town.

The wildcats are incorporated into this community 

already rich in sports, arts, music, business and 

more

You want to know where I'm from?

go there, grow up there

plant your roots into its soil like the pine tree that towers over my house

no words can describe it, theres nowhere like it

I'm from Evanston and

theres no place like home

Somewhere on the Rainbow Presentation