What do Day without Hate and Poetry Have in Common? The Month of April!

 

Day without Hate

A Day without Hate started here in Jeffco by students at Standley Lake High School after the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007. They asked their fellow studens to wear white in order to show a commitment and trust each other to make their school a safer place. Since then, it has become a day to celebrate that we will not tolerate violence or hate. The objective is to reach out to friends and acquaintances and say "We are all in this together." It has been a tradition that Oberon has participated in every year- even last year when we were 100% remote. Below are some books that are popular and focus on us changing our perspectives to focus on the idea that we are all in this together.

   The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas:  ** YA Material. Strong language, violence. Starr Carter lives a double life. She attends a mostly white school with uniforms and a better education than her neighborhood school can afford. She also lives in a neighborhood filled with drug dealers, neighborhood markets, and family. Starr's dual existence is thrust into the spotlight after a party goes awry. Starr's friend Kahlil rushes her out of a situation and drives her home. On their way, a white police officer pulls them over. The random traffic stop turns violent, and Kahlil ends up dead with Starr as the only witness to what happened. As Starr's family tried to protect her, she begins to find her voice. A powerful, insigthful look into the current state of our country through the eyes of a young, black, woman.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell: Eleanor is new to school in Omaha, Nebraska. She comes from an abusive home and does her best to make sure that others can't see the life she lives at home. Park is an Asian-American who prefers music and literature to physcial activity. Together, they bond and over a year, find what true friendship and love mean.

 Simon Vs. The Homo Sapien's Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen year-old Simon Spier is a typical teenager, except he isn't. Simon is a not-so-openly- gay man who prefers to keep that part of his life a secret. Unfortunately, when he forgets to log out of his email at school, he is blackmailed in to doing things or risk being exposed. This forces Simon to leave his comfort zone, and challenge himself to do things he isn't sure he's ready or willing to do. He must do this without alienating his friends, forgetting who he is, and without messing up his shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he knows.

National Poetry Month

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? A whole month focusing on poems and poetic language. Before you disregard this idea, remember that poetry is found not just in poetry books, but in stories, in speeches, and most importantly in music. Look at your favorite songs, you'll find some element of poetry. Rap is most especially dependent on poetic license. So take a moment this week, and appreciate some poetry. Poetry covers every genre of human emotion, all topics of social and emotional expanse, and crosses all barrier we put up- sex, race, age, nationality. Here are some excellent poetry choices.
Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson
In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. This isn't just poetry, but a memoir. It is very timely and very powerful message about how, in spite of systemic failure, the human spirit triumphs.
 Poetry 101 by Susan Dalzell
Poetry 101 is your companion to the wonderful world of meter and rhyme, and walks you through the basics of poetry. From Shakespeare and Chaucer, to Maya Angelou and Rupi Kaur, you'll explore the different styles and methods of writing, famous poets, and poetry movements and concepts--and even find inspiration for creating poems of your own. This book contains classic poets to modern poets. It allows the reader to experience poetry as it evolved and see how things change and stay the same as the world evolves.

The Complete Poetry of Maya Angelou
The amazing Maya Angelou led an inspiring, diverse life filled with compassion, drive, and energy. In this collection, the reader will experience her range of emotions and experience life through a pivotal figure, whether addressing power, greed, love, assault, civil rights, or everyday inspirations Ms. Angelou's powerful words can move and inspire you.


Pure Water: Poetry of Rumi
Pure Water is Coleman Barks' inspired live performance of the poetry of Jellaludin Rumi (1207-1273) by with Sufi stories & jokes, accompanied with music by Bach, O'Carolan, Friesen and others. The performance captured in this recording recalls the essence of the communal celebrations of poetry, stories, jokes, prayer, and music in which Rumi's work was first uttered, but presents it in a distinctive contemporary setting. Coleman's words combine with the cello of Grammy Award-winner Eugene Friesen, carrying the language directly into the heart of the listener with a diverse menu of world folk melodies, Bach, and improvisation. As Rumi wrote: "What is the soul? Consciousness. The more awareness, the deeper the soul, and when such essence overflows, you feel a sacredness around. It's so simple to tell one who puts on a robe and pretends to be a dervish from the real thing. We know the taste of pure water..."

To find poems that might interest you, Search the ebook options at Jefferson County Public Library or the Oberon Libratory for poetry book options.

Leaving a Legacy

In 7 Mindsets, we’re going to be focusing next on leaving a legacy. Leaving a Legacy means recognizing the impact we had on others and on the world. It's vital to find those things we're passionate about and orient our lives around the legacy we want to leave. Day Without Hate reiterates to us we need to engage with others in a positive and encouraging manner. We’re going to be honoring Day Without Hate starting on Monday, April 26th. More information to come on Schoology and during Access.

 

Imagine it's the future. Your family, friends, and colleagues are celebrating your 37th, 57th or 77th birthday. They are asked to describe the impact you've had on their lives. Your parents and siblings speak, your spouse and children speak, some of your friends speak. What is the story you want them to be able to tell? In one or two sentences, express the story of your life as told by the people you have touched during your life. Have each of your family members do this and share with each other. If there's something you want them to say about you and you're not doing it yet, what could be the first step to you moving toward making that story a reality?