I chose this quote because it talks about how the future of humankind lies with art. The quote interested me because of how intriguing the topic is. Creativity and imagination are two of the most important tools we are gifted with. Our world would be dull without artistic expression. This is shown in the quote because it explains how we are all influenced by art. The world can be shaped and influenced through the media we consume, which includes art. Artistic expression showcases so many feelings and emotions. It tells its own story. The path humanity will take can be shown and paved through art. It's also becoming more prominent and available to the newer generations. This creates new passionate minds and is how I interpret the quote. If we were ever to lose creativity it would be the downfall of society. The state of the world as of now isn’t great. We are recovering from Covid and economic recession. Art and passion will keep us going. 

During quarantine I spent a lot of time doing art. The quote explains how I used art to get through a difficult time with words. In my own personal journey the quote teaches me to embrace my creativity. That art isn’t just for myself, but to be shared. The line “looks to works of art” inspires me to create pieces to influence the world in a good way. 

I learned about how I can help and positively impact the lives of homeless people in Toronto. I used to think that I had little to no control on government based issues. Going on this retreat helped me realize that the smallest actions can make a difference. When I was out in the rain I could see how giving one person a hat could be so impactful on their life. It didn’t seem like much to me at the time, but after the retreat I know that it would help a lot.

3. What new changes will you make in your life to support the un-housed? 

Personally, I think that spreading awareness about the issue is one of the easiest and most effective ways to help out. The more people that know, the more help the homeless can get. Social media and posters are always good ways to let others know what is going on and how to help. Obviously donating anything that could be of need to them would leave a positive impact on their lives. Before throwing away anything I can think of how could be of use to someone in need and donate it instead.

What emotions are felt when you read the list of names of the homeless that have died on the streets of Toronto?

When reading the names I definitely felt a strong sense that something had to be done. We can't let the cycle of poverty continue, knowing all those who lost their lives because of it. The names John and Jane Doe left the most impact on me after reading the names on the memorial. It made me sad because they didn’t have anyone to identify them with a name. It made me see how alone they really were; not having a single person that knew their name. These people deserve to have their names on the memorial and I’m glad they were represented with John or Jane Doe instead. 

           This year I tried out different art disciplines than I was used to. I had a small interest in tech, so I took media arts and communications technology. This was one of the biggest steps I took in my art journey. Previously I didn’t have an arts discipline I wanted to continue with. I was interested in drama and visual arts to an extent, but not enough to pursue. I ended up really liking both media arts and com tech. I’ll be taking both in grade 11 and hopefully in 12. I really enjoyed the movie and cinematography aspect of com tech and it’s now one of my favourite subjects. Taking these courses gave me a new interest in art to pursue. When it comes to all my art pieces my favorite would have to be the sculpted hands that I made. I wanted to get into sculpting and the assignment was the perfect way to do so. Painting the hands with the colours and shadows was my favourite part. I also really liked my “about me piece”. I feel like the images and colours showed a bit of who I am. Painting the galaxy and the eye was also enjoyable and I think it turned out nicely. I like how we are learning to integrate art into other subjects in the school. I prefer this year's course over the alc because we are learning a standard subject and applying art to it. If the alc course had more time to become fully fleshed out I think it would be a good course. This year one of the things we did in class that I liked the most was the talking circle. I hope to take the patience from this class because I feel a lot of arguments would be solved quicker if I was more patient. 

           If I’m being honest, my grade 10 year must've been one of the wildest years of my life. I made so many more friends this year and decided to hangout with people who I connect with better. I can't believe how much I changed from last year. Both semesters felt like whole years on their own because of all the stuff that went down. Last semester in media arts we watched Train to Busan and it left me traumatized (no I will never forget nor recover). My academic comeback in math was the best and so was my model plane in history. Com tech deserves it's own blog post at this point... lets just say that class was something else. Although I enjoyed my subjects more last semester I think I have a lot more friends and good moments now.  Oh wait we were supposed to talk about challenges. (ignore this paragraph then)

           My grade 10 year was full of so many fun moments, but that didn't come without the fair share of challenges. I'm not sure how, but I managed to change my mentality. I just know that I used to water down my personality, so people would want to be my friend. The thing is, people would want to be my friend because of my personality. I literally have no idea why I did that. I think this year I met the right people and stopped caring. A big challenge was being able to do my work (hence why this is late as well as almost every other assignment). My mind does not stay in one place nor does it want to work even if it's beneficial. I have not come up with a permanent resolution, but there's no way I can survive with harder classes. This has definitely been one of my biggest challenges and still is. I don't think that I used any strategies we learned to overcome these issues (one isn't even resolved and I totally 100% remember the strategies) Actually right now i'm facing the challenge of not falling asleep. It's not even late, but apparently getting 4 hours of sleep isn't enough. 

(I fell asleep)