Next Tattoo Inspiration: The Hobbit mixed with We Came as Romans

It's long overdue. Time for another tattoo: The Lonely Mountain (illustration) from the book, The Hobbit, with script of the song title "Stay Inspired," from We Came as Romans.

Much of what The Hobbit represents matches idyllically with my interpretation of the lyrics from the WCAR song.

Take a closer look:

The song begins with, "Why do we love only when it's convenient to us?" On Middle of Earth - just like with today's planet earth - different races do not traditionally and frequently get along. One race has an issue (or twenty) with another and vice versa. Because it is inconvenient to love everyone - for it is quite a challenging, yet worthy, way of life - differences divide races. It takes time and effort, an open mind and an open heart, to love all. Any given race is more comfortable, typically, with accepting those of the same background: "Is it because we don't want to let go of the security that a close heart holds?" A seemingly distant heart offers unfamiliarity and, thus, dismantles that previously sustained safe haven. Most of the creatures and people of Middle Earth do not dare leave their comfort zone and allow the unfamiliar to be let in and loved. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit of the Shire - a hobbit who, like most of his race, sticks to his already established sense of security.

The next rhetorical question that the song poses connects the idea above with risk: "Or is it the risk of being broken? Too unbearable to even let the thought surface?" Those in Middle Earth, just like humans of today's day and age, are afraid to take that risk and reach out to the different. Risk-taking can lead to negative consequences; however, it can also bring about the positive. The song continues with, "There are greater rewards in stepping outside of your own comfort than there are in never breaking down the walls that you've built." This illustrates the positive side to taking the risk of transcending division into tolerance, and then tolerance into acceptance. When individuals refuse the help others, particularly those who are different, they are building barriers and, thus, creating "a solely self-sustaining life," which "is surely a hollow one."

Ultimately, Tolkien's masterpiece assays and conveys the value of unity. We Came as Romans' lyrics examine such significance: "There are greater rewards in coexistence than there are in never breaking down the walls that you've built." Coexistence - that is the key. People and creatures alike are not meant to live on their own - all types of species are meant to live and work together in harmony.

Unfortunately, the understanding and openmindedness needed to coexist does not, well, exist: "Why are we understanding only when it's agreeable?" Most people and creatures, just like in The Hobbit, only show understanding or compassion towards another when they agree with the ways of that other individual.

So, what needs to be done? The band provides an answer that Bilbo also shows: "It's time to take action. It's time to stay inspired. It's time to prove that we aren't all talk, and we're not afraid of the risks." Bilbo, against the odds and his initial plans, defies stereotypes and steps out of his comfort zone both literally and figuratively. He sets off for an adventure with no other hobbit, but with a band of dwarves and a wizard. Out in the wild, he meets many creatures unlike himself in shape, but alike in hopes and fears. He and the dwarves forge an unbreakable and unusual bond that inspires all to do the same. This tale and this song each inspire and encourage what this world needs most: open-mindedness, understanding, acceptance, and awareness.

Hidden

*focus on alliteration and refrains, and assonance and end rhyme (and, as always, theme, tone and mood)

"Hidden"

Clandestine kisses
privy to a couple
illuminate isolated illusions
dissecting discourse and diction
flips fact and fiction.
Stolen solitude
gluttonous to gratitude.
Shrouded by the sound
of secluded silence.
Only hammering heartbeats harmonize
to maximize myopia,
for this moment is under utopia.
blinded by bliss,
but actually bewildered by
faux felicity.
These clandestine kisses
taste of honey
honed by heavenly haven
privy to a couple
who have heart, hope, and hate.
in a land where just lust no longer alleviates,
but love liberates.
Clandestine kisses condoned
in a utopia not-so unknown.

Overachiever? Or Just Someone Who Cares?

I do all the work that I give my students. beforehand.

Open Response Prompt: In The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne confides in her diary. What do Anne’s diary entries reveal about her personality? Pick one characteristic and locate three examples from the text.

In The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne confides in her diary, revealing her personality to be quite insightful for a young teenager. Anne is an intuitive thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, living during the time of the Holocaust, who is forced into hiding to avoid being sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis. In an early diary entry, Anne writes about what it is like to be in hiding. Her descriptions illustrate her insightfulness: “It’s funny never to be able to go outdoors…never to breathe fresh air…never to run and shout and jump” (35). Anne is perceptive about her surroundings; stuck indoors, she realizes her lungs will be empty of air that would otherwise be abundantly available. She focuses on something that most people take for granted: fresh air. Once news comes of the Allies landing in Africa, Anne writes in her diary about what she hopes to do as soon as the war is over. She wants “to ride a bike again…to laugh till [her] belly aches…to have new clothes from the skin out…to have a hot tub filled to overflowing and wallow in it for hours” (91). Anne’s wants post-war illustrate her ability to compare and contrast her current situation with that of others more fortunate. In hiding, Anne cannot play the way a typical thirteen-year-old is able to. Also she is unable to indulge in anything. Ultimately, Anne is wholly aware of her ill-fated circumstances. In a later diary entry, Anne discusses what it is like to have cut down on food even more than before. By evoking sensory details, Anne shows how insightful she is. She writes, “Our stomachs are so empty that they rumble and make strange noises, all in different keys” (140). She proceeds to describe the sound of each person’s stomach rumbling. Her imagery reveals more than her creative outlook; it expresses her spot-on awareness. She can feel, see, and hear the pain that shrouds those in hiding. Anne of The Diary of Anne Frank pours her heart out to her diary, in which she reveals her insightfulness, despite her young age.

Vanity

"Vanity"

Narcissism at its finest: you entwined with yourself.
your inordinate fascination with all things you.
deification derived from, yes, talent.
but talent-turned-stardom
floods the tippity top of the physical you,
elevating the egotistical psyche of humanity
into worthy range of untouchable you.
flash that vainglorious grin
as the world revolves around it,
you immodest piece of shit.

oblivious to the passions of any other.
arrogance reeks.
your radiance could be better than gall - it once was.
for you have what others can only dream.
but you abuse that with which you have been blessed.
and so, yes, you seem talentless unless cockiness counts best.

Novation

"Novation" (the introduction of something new)

who knew I'd need a flashlight
in the dark to decipher
those cryptic messages etched in pretense,
veiled behind bronze eyes and
electric smile,
disguised by your esoteric ego.

this'll be the end of you and I.
perceived only one side,
blind to your clandestine psyche
of faux integrity. indiscernible in
the light, mystical by moon.
I now ask, who are you?

fell too deeply too quickly.
and your locked in beast went undetected
under star-crossed stares and fingers tangled in hair.
shrouded, but now escaping its lair.
the unexposed now exposed
hideous in its exposure.
out of shadow into view,
this is ulterior you:
privy to fidelity,
enigmatic by nature.
and this duality is a puzzle piece
that does not fit
me.

Duality

"Duality"

interrogating myself, my insides, outsides
look deep, deeply, deeper
dichotomize.

outward: strong, independent, self-reliant.
impregnable.
inward: scared, weak, insecure.
fragile.

and where's the cure?
shall I reveal the double-sided me
to the world at large?
shall I sever one and
wholly embody the other?

but which to choose to ensure
I do not lose?
no matter. I've already lost
when I crossed off all help
years ago.
"dependent," though I never let it go,
I added the "in" - bolded
those two letters
and held them dear.
a symbol for all I fear
and love.

Catharsis or Foreshadowing

Below is a poem that utilizes literary terms and elements.

All these anecdotes full of ambiguity and abstract allusions
Any analogies are anachronistic and anticlimactic, marking me
as the antagonist juxtaposed to your future self.
I read through your pronouns -
she, her: I am the antecedent.
All your initial intentions have altered, now antithetical.
And you think these new-found ideals
are as good an aphorism,
and you're enveloped in apotheosis -
while I'm the archetypal bitch.
You once sung me an aubade,
but now deliver asides.
Well, I can hear them clearly,
cacophonous as they are.
These words are my catharsis,
then I'll follow carpe diem
and tell everyone, colloquially, that
you're a piece of shit.
We could all use a little comic relief.
Let's face it -
you're as conventional of a character as they come.
Pray my diction be didactic.

---

Below, I have copied the poem, and rendered all literary words in bold.

All these anecdotes full of ambiguity and abstract allusions
Any analogies are anachronistic and anticlimactic, marking me
as the antagonist juxtaposed to your future self.
I read through your pronouns -
she, her: I am the antecedent.
All your initial intentions have altered, now antithetical.
And you think these new-found ideals
are as good an aphorism,
and you're enveloped in apotheosis -
while I'm the archetypal bitch.
You once sung me an aubade,
but now deliver asides.
Well, I can hear them clearly,
cacophonous as they are.
These words are my catharsis,
then I'll follow carpe diem
and tell everyone, colloquially, that
you're a piece of shit.
We could all use a little comic relief.
Let's face it -
you're as conventional of a character as they come.
Pray my diction be didactic.

Correction

people are dynamic, not static;
therefore, change is inevitable.
you are naïve if you think otherwise.
so it goes,
when remodeling of one's psyche occurs, search for the light and embrace it;
become engulfed in everything unfamiliar.
new can blend with old.
find ways to adjust yourself to the adjustment of others.
make it flow and flow with it, like a transition is meant to.
accept transformation with open arms rather than a closed mind.
remember: metamorphosis can be a beautiful thing,
if you know where to look.