For my creative re-mix, I have decided to create a website embedded with videos, photos, statistics, and other information about local officials who you can contact about protecting veterans and making sure they’re thriving.
WEBSITE: https://creativeremixveterans.com/
For my creative re-mix I am going to interview homeless people/ veterans in the veteran hospital to get their take on the governments initiatives to help with the veterans.
By Kathleen Kroll
A simple piece of cloth Square, rectangular, oblong Soft blue, pink, green Woven, nubby or smooth It matters not Cloth Swaddling my infant babe Cloth In tatters Bearing injuries honorably Chewed, dragged, hugged Kitty, bear or tiger Cloth comes alive In my toddler’s arms Cloth Stretched over table or chair Tent, house or fire station My busy lad Creates an island of safety So proud am I and is he Cloth At preschool Comforting Cuddled briefly Stuffed quickly Into a backpack Forgotten in busy play Cloth Lying inert Discarded In an attic chest Squatting On the ground My teen barely notices Its displacement His mind alive New ideas New destinations New loves Cloth over his marriage bed Immaculately placed Or rumpled, tossed, lost Covering two Sometimes three Or more Bills litter the surface by day Crumbs hide within by night A polka-dotted pattern Tears of joy and sorrow Aged now Letting go Of all But this one piece of cloth Grateful for its presence Wrapping, wrapping Boundaries fading Cloth as a shroud Returning his body To its source A blanket is never just a blanket.... (Link: https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/cloth_765726) When I read this poem for the first time, I was immediately drawn to the metaphor that the cloth represents. It represents an attachment to something/someone and eventually having to let them go. I can truly relate to this because in 2017, I had lost my Grandpa and throughout my 17 years of life, he was my best friend; someone that I can talk to with no issues, someone who would sneak me cookies if I was in time out and all in all I really miss him. When I said my final "I love you" to him in the hospital, he smiled at me and he knew that he had fulfilled his life out to the fullest, that he was content in his final moments. In the last stanza, it talks about fulfillment and being happy with life, regardless of where it was placed at and how it was manipulated into clothing. My grandpa struggled, and there was no doubt he was displaced when he emigrated from the Soviet Union right after World War II, but I know he was happy with how he ended up here and how he made the dream family he always wanted, how he made us happy, and how he saw us succeed and thrive in life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBd40bbB4nEcc
I feel like this clip represents displacement in popular culture because Nemo felt extremely uncomfortable in his tank in Sydney, Australia. Growing up in the sea, this tank is a different experience to him. When he meets the girl with braces, all hell breaks loose. Being physically tortured and feeling completely helpless, his new friends in the tank had helped him with his plan. Nemo, in turn doesn’t really feel out of his comfort zone with these random fish.
(Photo Credits: Me)
Growing up in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn has always been filled with immense diversity and unique faces on the daily. However, gentrification impacted my neighborhood and thus, made rent and housing prices skyrocket. ‘For Sale’ signs posted all over my neighborhood and this one isn’t so different. Taken from the steps of my home, my neighbor who I was extremely close with had unfortunately fallen short with rent and mortgage prices and ultimately had to sell their house. Losing close friends whom I’ve considered family was difficult to deal with. As gentrification impacted my neighborhood, I felt a connection that was once there slowly start to disappear. Banks, Doctors Offices, Starbucks, Dunkin’, and other shops that signify changes within a neighborhood. Now, all I see are for rent signs on out of business stores. Seeing the vast amount of changes that have taken place in Bensonhurst have put me in disarray; I never expected to see all of these empty stores on Eighteenth Avenue. The change in my neighborhood most definitely relates to the class theme of displacement because people (including myself) in my neighborhood do not feel the connection that the lively neighborhood once had.
1.How does the author’s displacement enable him to view the park in certain aspects?
2. How does the park provide emotional stability to the author?
3. How does the title “Shadow Cities” relate to our class theme of displacement? How does it relate to you?