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She’s a soft spoken classmate I never got the chance to interact with. It’s funny how we learn things about the people we attend classes with with time. Especially in a smaller class where we barely talk to one another. Throughout the two semesters we have spent together, I learned she was a writer in the Gateway. I learned what an amazing writer she is. I learned, through this dear project, that she can’t speak without fully articulating her thoughts in her head and rehearsing what she wants to say first. I do that too! Even after rehearsing, the words that come out of my mouth comes out weird anyway... It’s amazing what you find out from people and the similarities you have with them when you ask to collect doodles.

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Alyssa sat across the room from me in class. She was that cool looking girl with the gorgeous tattoos I always wanted to ask about but never got the guts to because she seemed intimidating. That neck tattoo especially, with the Latin words, intrigued me the most but I never found out what it meant. She seemed so cool and aloof, her writing in class was proof of that, along with so many emotions about mental health. It was inspiring. To learn that she liked 80s’ horror movies was equally cool, and I see where she draws some of her inspiration from. Slasher films, the cheesy dialogue especially, are really something.

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I’m not much of a drawer although I do what my Mother sometimes does: copy art. It’s when I’m bored and I decide that instead of being creative and coming up with something myself, I google images of looney tune babies and draw them. They take hours sometimes so cute fruits are the way to go. My old art teacher would be so disappointed with me...
I did not realise how much this little project would mean to me until after I had completed it. Learning about my classmates, recalling moments I shared with my friends and family was such an experience. To be able to conclude my WRITE298 course like this makes me emotional and I have learned so much. To all those who read this, thank you for being part of my life and letting me share all this with you.

Love,
Leanne

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One of my best friends since we were 14/15, Tri recently found joy in making journals and is currently obsessed with doodling flowers as seen in her doodles. We were classmates who didn’t have much in common but found a chemistry between us that has worked till today. She’s there to listen and offer advice but can be a little judgmental if your stories get too wild.
I remember her 17th birthday. Some friends and I decided that we’d surprise her at home so I snuck her mother’s phone number from her phone and told her our plans to surprise Tri. Her mom was incredibly sporting and to cut a long story short, the surprise was a success. It was so successful, we brought tears to her eyes. I think I have pictures of her face somewhere...

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Ah, Shaf. Short for Shafiqah. She’s a friend I honestly didn’t expect to be so close to but alas! We were classmates in polytechnic in Singapore and she usually kept to herself the most in our little group but she was going through many personal problems then, something I wasn’t privy to until recently. I’m surprised at how much more bubbly she is now but the difference shows since she got over her fifth life crisis.
Shaf like denim a lot, jeans or denim jackets, even in the heat and humidity that is Singapore. While I’m there sweating away in shorts and short sleeved shirts, with my hair tied up, she’s always looking cool while covered from her neck and below. I frequently wonder if she’s actually some cold-blooded lizard person...

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Meeting and making new friends is something that comes unnaturally natural to me sometimes but when it comes to classmates, I get more withdrawn...I was honestly glad he started talking to me though. I learned that he was from Malaysia and we actually had stuff to have a conversation about rather than every day small talk. We chatted briefly about Sabah, where he was from, and his life, then compared it to mine and how different my life was like being in the neighbouring country. It was really nice to find someone I could talk to and who had things in common with me here in the prairies.
We all know how deep Rylance is in his work and it translates to his personal life too. He shared a poem with me that perfectly illustrates that fact:

i have always thought of him being sick,
not because of his polka dots encumbering him,
no,
but of his
brown
dull
tired
bruised
hooves:
sick of running he seems,
galloping through and over
white picket fences,
never looking back,
only chasing the sun,
hurtling in the
yellow
brumal
dead
tenebrous
vast
sunflower field —
why did he not stay and rest till sunrise?

i   m i s s  h i m  n o w"

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My mom is an amazing person. Everyone thinks their moms are amazing but mine is the most amazing. She’s forgiving, her laughter is infectious, and hearing her voice makes me so homesick. Thinking about all the problems I’ve made for her and my dad, I feel all kinds of guilt. I’m older now but not any wiser, I just want to stop disappointing my parents and find the person I should be.
Interesting fact about my mom’s art, while her doodles are original (she gave me way more doodles than I asked for), she’s able to copy artwork online. It’s not perfect like an art forger’s but it’s decent enough that a normal person like you and I would be impressed with.

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I’ve never spoken to Mack in class but he was always one of those outspoken people I wish I was. He was actually the first person to give me his doodle which I thought was really cute considering he didn’t doodle much. Mack loves reading a lot so the library in Beauty and the Beast is probably his dream, like mine! He’s also an existentialist. I never thought about being labelled one but after googling what an existentialist is, believing in an individual’s freedom and choice, maybe I’m one too.

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I sat right next to Sarah in class but we barely talk, what a shame. I blame myself for keeping to myself so much instead of reaching out and making another friend. If we started talking more I probably would have found out that she likes doodling planets and stars to pass the time away better. I probably would have seen the friendlier part of her. She once waited in line for a concert and then stood in the concert pit for 12 hours straight with barely any refreshments and no bathroom breaks at all. I admire that restrain and willpower! She also enjoys making friends while waiting in line forever so imagine the friend I would’ve made! I’m such a disappointment to myself...

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We have been friends since primary school in Singapore. We might have even known each other earlier in some old drama school we took as children but we could never corroborate that clearly. I found some picture of myself in drama class with a girl vaguely looking like her which she claimed that it wasn’t her, but she wasn’t sure so who knows! Maybe I found her doppelgänger!
She finds that as she grows older, she experiences déjà reve more and more, something I find happens often too. Deja reve is the experience of having done something in a dream that occurrs later in real life. We learn something new everyday.

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Grace is a terrible people person. She’s talkative and no matter how dull the conversation gets, she’ll pluck a topic from the air and she’ll get right to it. That’s what makes her endearing and incredible at her current job. She used to be a little ditzy, slow to get jokes but still enjoying them a few minutes later all the same once it clicks together in her brain. It’s crazy how successful she is at work now, I have so many questions for her, especially how fast her reaction time is now? There’s a high chance that she’d shriek at me but it’s worth it to watch her face react to that.

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Dana is a diabetic, a fact she wears with pride because it has shaped who she is as a person. She’s so proud of it she even made an Instagram page telling everyone her story. I found that we actually have something in common; a tattoo preference. While mine just represents the freedom I hope to have one day, she wants a hummingbird she would draw herself tattooed next year to celebrate her 20th year of being diabetic. What a milestone!

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Aurora sits on the opposite side of the room in class. We’ve spoken a few times the semester before during the RAM review. She was so animated, she knew what she was talking about when it came to the contents of the museum and that made me think a little deeper about the exhibits I saw. I also learned that she has an identical twin sister. A sister she gets along with, something I can’t relate to since I always fight with mine.

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I met Ashley on Bumble, a typical dating app but with a part for meeting friends. I wasn't having the best time making friends in Edmonton and I've been skeptical about people ever since but she's changed that a little bit. She's quirky, has the most adorable nephews, and is a genuinely good friend. She's a bit of a nut but her laugh in infectious and I have nothing but love for her.

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It’s funny she drew the galaxy and a spaceship. Lisa always has her head in the clouds and in the future when “things might get better”. It’s her positive outlook in life that betrays her insecurities but makes her her. We used to sit together a lot during Secondary school, all the way at the back corner of the class. She would be playing a silly little building blocks type of game on my iPod all while I tried to hide her and simultaneously tried not to fall asleep during class. Those were some hard years we went through together. Now, Lisa hoards makeup while she boasts about not needing to use makeup, yet she still refuses to share her makeup with me... How times have changed and how we’ve grown. When did we stop being 15 year olds?