#105: Intriguing Speakers for Poetry

[Mr. Neary]

As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role of poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  Consider the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name brand!).  These potential speakers represent only three out of a countless number of possibilities.

You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our studies of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.

[Quincy Shuda]

1. The mother of an African baby who has been bitten my a malaria-ridden mosquito, begging for the child to live but knowing chances are unlikely.

2. A young boy in Russia with an alcoholic father and no male role model to look up to besides Putin.

3. A teenage American girl visiting Afghanistan and comparing her culture to the one there.

[Steven Wood]

1. A Phillipino sex slave who "escapes" slavery, but ends up only in a different location.

2. A Palestinian who lives in Israel an who had both parents killed by Israeli soldiers.

3.  An African child soldier who killed his own family.

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 2:11 PM, Mr. Neary <tjn...@gmail.com> wrote:

As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role of poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  Consider the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name brand!).  These potential speakers represent only three out of a countless number of possibilities.

You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our studies of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.

--

-Steven Wood

[Alexa Lee]

1. A young child in Mexico who is part of Los Zetas drug cartel because he has no other "family".  His mother and father were killed by the cartel, but he was 'spared'.  Now he is forced to sell drugs, sometimes take drugs, and frequently kill people.  If he doesn't then he is beaten harshly and even risks being killed himself.   

2. A rebellious Muslim girl living in Egypt during the revolution, who took part in the women's rally.  She snuck out with her friends and went against her parent's wishes, particularly her radical abusive chauvinistic father (her mother is extremely timid and unwilling to stand up to him for herself and even her own daughter).  

3. A Palestinian man married to a Jewish woman (or vice versa) living in Israel-Palestine, having to deal with the struggles of each other's family prejudices and hatred.  (Maybe like a back and forth type of poem) They struggle because they deeply love each other, seeing the real people behind the race.  However in doing so they push past tradition and the comfort zone.  

[Connor]

1. An Israeli Arab with an internal conflict between nationalistic identity and historical culture.

2. A Saudi woman supporting her right to drive.

3. An elderly Russian who was drastically impacted by the collapse of the Soviet Union and is adjusting to life outside of communism. 

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Shefain Islam]

1. A Saudi girl who is in the young stages of adolescence moves to America and while her parents try to hold her to her traditions, she begins to explore the wide variety of options and begins to also create her own identity aside from the hijab causing friction between her family and her new home.
2. A man who after having seen his father become a victim of the Soviet government's torture becomes devoted to underground work in order to expose the truth about the state of the country to every single resident.
3. A young African woman who was born into an affluent family and eventually got married to an American man decides to go back to Africa to experience her heritage and discovers the bond she shares with those suffering in Africa from famine and disease among many other things.

[Cat Mosier-Mills]

1. A young girl who fights for democracy in Egypt, but who is then subject to a "viginity test" in Egypt by a forceful police officer, which permanently scars her.

2. A mixed race child in Africa who faces discrimination from the indigenous people for her "colonialist" heritage

3. An orphan in Russia who grew up under the harsh circumstances of the Soviet Union and has trouble adjusting to her newfound freedom

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Josh Klag]

1. An orthodox Israeli settler in the West Bank having his settlement destroyed by Palestinians/the Israeli Government.

2. An African child soldier encountering another child soldier in battle.

3. A Syrian man who has escaped to a neighboring country and is glued to the radio listening to news from his homeland.

 

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Leigh]

1. An average Iranian citizen who moves to America and is unfairly judged because of his country's views
2. The Parent of a child who is kidnapped and sold into slavery
3. An old Chinese dissident who has been tortured by the government

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Lizzy Hilt]

1. A young African girl who has grown up with her inseparable twin brother who is being forced to become a child solder, and her struggle in staying by his side as he is transformed into a different person by his new lifestyle. 

2. An arab grandmother grappling  with the task she has put on herself of trying  to understand the views of her rebellious granddaughter. 

3. A young Russian wife discovering that she has acquired HIV from her drunk, abusive husband, while pregnant with their first child. 

[Melissa Lee]

1. A young Afghan girl on the run, who has just left her vengeful father who had threatened her with the violent consequences, after she fought over marriage

2. An African widow who lives with her children and is willing to do anything to protect her children from the dangers of rebels and warfare

3. A former KGB agent who lives with his family but still holds close the secrets he was handed during the Soviet era

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[James Lofton]

1. A Russian Male. Drunk. Homeless. Tries to express himself through hist artistic qualities, but feels repressed by the government and there is no escape.

2. A Palestinian terrorist. imprisoned by the Israelis, and doubting he will ever see the light of day again. Nationalistic fervor burns within HER. (FEMALE)

3. A Soviet dissident, put in the Gulag on the Pacific coast. A true free thinker, torn between the rationale of communism and the prospects of capitalism.

[Maddie Chapin]

1. A Syrian protestor who has been beaten in the protests and now is trying to flee from the country.

2. An Afghan mother facing the troubles from the US pulling out of her country.

3. The scarred woman that Mr. Sklar walked in on when she was caring for her children and not wearing her burka.

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Ashley Gubernick]

1.  An educated Moscow citizen who sees through Putin's disastrous dictatorship, but feels powerless.

2. A IAEA inspector who inspects Iran and now seeks unfettered access to a restricted military complex

3. (Personification) If Korans could talk: Who's to blame for the burning and should punishment take place?

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Allie Martin]

1. A Russian college student who just won a seat in the municipal government and truly believes in democracy

2. A teenager in Syria who is living in Idlib, the city believed to be the next target for government strikes

3. An Palestinian man in his early twenties who has spent the past 5 years in an Israeli prison with no sign of being released soon

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Ben Cohen]

1. A child growing up in pro-Al quaeda or Taliban area of the Middle
East.
2. one of the billionaire oligarchs from Russia that resisted against
Putin
3. an African child who has had to care for his/her younger siblings
because their parents passed away

On Mar 12, 2:11 pm, "Mr. Neary" <tjne...@gmail.com> wrote:
> As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role of
> poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic
> devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential
> speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to
> have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make
> it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so

> think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  *Consider

> the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area
> with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her
> abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide
> bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an
> already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name

> brand!).*  These potential speakers represent only three out of a countless
> number of possibilities.
>
> *You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our studies

> of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.
>

> *

[Rachel Hochberger]

1. A educated Russian protestor fighting for more rights and democracy, despite the fact that Putin has been reelected.

2. An African child forced to become a soldier struggling to take on this harsh new role and forfeit his childhood. 

3. A Palestinian who fled the West Bank, only returning to find that her home has been overtaken by settlements.

[Drew Vollmer]

1) A 15-year-old child soldier for the RUF, high on cocaine and "brown-
brown", attacks UNICEF members innocently trying to tend to him. In
his rage, he kills two men, feeling invincible.

2) In 1967, a nomadic Bedouin in the Sinai encounters his first piece
of advanced technology, a fleet of Israeli tanks taking occupation of
his desert homeland. The war machines trump the size of him and his
measly camel.

3) A native Siberian, along with his tribe, come across the frost-
bitten carcass of a Russian dissident. In their confusion, the natives
try to decipher what this pale "creature" is, and how it ended up in
their hunting grounds, thus imagining numerous outlandish
possibilities.

Bonus) A Radnor sophomore student laments the sight of stacks upon
stacks of handouts. In a Louisiana-style blues, he mourns of the woes
of late Sunday nights and one sentence summaries. (Can be adapted into
a Ray Charles song with harmonica solo)

On Mar 12, 2:11 pm, "Mr. Neary" <tjne...@gmail.com> wrote:

> As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role of
> poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic
> devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential
> speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to
> have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make
> it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so

> think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  *Consider

> the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area
> with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her
> abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide
> bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an
> already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name

> brand!).*  These potential speakers represent only three out of a countless
> number of possibilities.
>
> *You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our studies

> of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.
>

> *

[Sarah M]

1. A young Israeli orphan being raised by her orthodox grandparents,
confused about whether her parents' deaths while serving in the
Israeli army justify her family's hatred of an entire race of people.

2. A young Christian boy living in northern Nigeria, scared of the
extremist Islamist sects that have attacked his school and church.

3. An old Chechnyan man, outraged at the misrepresentation of his
community in an election fraud that represents Russia's tortured
history of corruption and oppression.

[Addy]

1. A Syrian rebel who knows nothing but violence everyday, and just
wants peace and equality.
2. One of the few wealthy African people (disrgarding dictators) on
the poverty and dispair around them
3. A former child solider on how his life has been effected.

On Mar 12, 2:11 pm, "Mr. Neary" <tjne...@gmail.com> wrote:

> As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role of
> poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic
> devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential
> speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to
> have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make
> it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so

> think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  *Consider

> the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area
> with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her
> abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide
> bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an
> already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name

> brand!).*  These potential speakers represent only three out of a countless
> number of possibilities.
>
> *You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our studies

> of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.
>

> *

[Colin Castro]

3 Perspectives

1. A Japanese teenage girl coming to grips with the tragic nuclear
disaster, that took friends and family, while forever changing her
life. Through poetry she could either re-tell the events, or look back
at those momentous events.

2. A Syrian ten-year-old with a father in Bashar Al-Assad's
government, the boy's parents religiously shield from his outdoor
surroundings, he hears awful booms in the night and ponders why he
can't see his friends anymore and what's really going on.

3. An older Russian man living in Moscow, contemplating his life and
the growths and changes he's seen in his homeland. A proud view,
that's unhappy with protesters, or a deeply cynical, angered view fed
up with the sham of a democracy.

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 2:11 PM, Mr. Neary <tjn...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Michael Wong]

1.An African school teacher trying to provide hope and a future for his students as they starve

2.An educated Egyptian struggling at the ballet box to vote for islamists or the secular parties

3.A Russian store owner selling a bottlke of vodka to a pregnant woman

[Erica F]

1. An Afghani teenage girl who longs to leave her family and abusive
husband behind, and pursue her dream of having a career.
2. A Chinese woman whose husband is a high ranking government
official, while her family works themselves half to death in a
factory.
3. An American journalist hiding out in Syria.

On Mar 12, 2:11 pm, "Mr. Neary" <tjne...@gmail.com> wrote:

> As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role of
> poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic
> devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential
> speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to
> have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make
> it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so

> think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  *Consider

> the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area
> with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her
> abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide
> bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an
> already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name

> brand!).*  These potential speakers represent only three out of a countless
> number of possibilities.
>
> *You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our studies

> of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.
>

> *

[Maureen McDermott]

1. A Chechen whose entire community is being suppressed by Putin's government and who wants to succeed from Russia

2. An African/Middle Eastern girl who has been forced into prostitution

3. A Saudi Arabian who does not believe in the preachings of Islam but is living under Islamic law

On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:

[Jeremy Rhome]

1. An African mother of five who all her children were kidnapped by
Joseph Kony's LRA in the night and has to flee the region in fear that
her children will be forced to kill her
2. A eleven year old Iraqi boy who was raised in an American
controlled Ira

On Mar 13, 8:55 pm, Maureen McDermott <momcd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 1. A Chechen whose entire community is being suppressed by Putin's
> government and who wants to succeed from Russia
> 2. An African/Middle Eastern girl who has been forced into prostitution
> 3. A Saudi Arabian who does not believe in the preachings of Islam but is
> living under Islamic law
>
>
>
> On Monday, March 12, 2012 2:11:31 PM UTC-4, Mr. Neary wrote:
>
> > As part of our study on poetry and how it works, we will assume the role
> > of poet ourselves and create fragments of poetry, using different poetic
> > devices in the process.  As a first step we want to identify potential
> > speakers, those individuals (or types of individuals) who would seem to
> > have something interesting to say and the emotion behind that voice to make
> > it meaningful. Moreover, we want our speakers to come from our studies, so

> > think of the poeple we have encountered whose stories you want to hear.  *Consider

> > the spectrum of voices: the child in Africa who escapes the conflict area
> > with a diamond concealed in his pocket, the Pakistani woman who flees her
> > abusive husband in the middle of the night, or the disappointed suicide
> > bomber who finds not seventy virgins awaiting him, but instead an
> > already-opened box of stale America's Choice raisins (not even a name

> > brand!).*  These potential speakers represent only three out of a
> > countless number of possibilities.
>
> > *You are responsible for proposing three speakers who come from our

> > studies of current events, Africa, the Middle East, or Russia.
>

> > *

[Jeremy Rhome]

Accidently posted before i was finished...

q and now has to deal with a destabilize region and new way of life.
3. A out spoken Russian journalist who lives in constant fear of
kidnappings from the government.