Quotes and Images (Visual)

My song: "I Believe I Can fly" by R. Kelly

I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meaning of true love
I'm leaning on the everlasting arms

If I can see it, then I can do it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

[Chorus:]
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly

See I was on the verge of breaking down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me, oh

If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

[Chorus]

Hey, cause I believe in me, oh

If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

[Chorus]

Hey, if I just spread my wings
I can fly
I can fly
I can fly, hey
If I just spread my wings
I can fly
Fly-eye-eye

I chose this song because it is a simple but still portrays a deeper message. It shows how determination and believing in your self can help you reach you dreams. “I believe I can fly,” is telling people how having faith in yourself can help you overcome the hardest obstacles. There may be a time when you feel like a failure but that is how you become successful. There are several songs about perseverance but this song portrays it in a unique message. It can be interpreted in a variety of ways and I see it as a bird flying in the clouds. I picture it as if you can almost see your goal amidst the clouds but you have to keep pushing in order to reach it.

What thoughts and/or feelings did the texts evoke in you? Why?

All the poems expressed how your overall personality plays a big role in one’s life. It is inevitable that we all go through mental or physical growth. We can control how successful we are by making the right decisions. However, our personality or emotions can impede our self-development. They all taught me different life lessons. For example, in “Alone” the poet talks about how billionaires are greedy, and sometimes it can lead to their own death. Richard Cory had the “looks” and money but this only made him seem overconfident and no one wanted to be his friend. Everyone was envious and he did not get the opportunity to create lifelong relationships with other people. He was on his own and you cannot learn a lot by yourself. “I am from…” was a poem that shows how even though you may come from a poorer family or are not as fortunate you can still pursue your dreams. Optimism can take you far in life. A quote from the poem was “in the back of my mind there lies a dream of good “soul food” and “money trees.” He hopes to become successful one day and it is possible, as long as he believes in himself. His journey may involve failure a few times but his persistence will push him to accomplish things that may seem unattainable at the time.  The main idea is that if you have a dream of doing something you might as well pursue it because it allows for self- growth to occur. “As I grew older,” is an example of how growth happens because of one’s personality. She was determined and overcame all obstacles. “… shatter this darkness. Into a thousand whirling dreams of sun” were lines from the poem that shows she accomplished her goal and changed into a new person. In conclusion, your personality is like food, it fuels you to keep on “growing.”

What ideas or feelings seem most significant to you? Why?

The key idea for me was that all the poems related to the essential question “What does it mean to be an insider or an outsider?” Society has evolved immensely throughout the generations, yet there are still people who judge others of not being “normal”. This is not right because who are we to judge others? Our world has been striving for equality for numerous generations yet there are still people who exclude and discriminate. The five poems all include characters that have their own unique identity. The difficult part is finding who you are without allowing other people to influence your overall identity. No one is considered a permanent outsider, because there is always somewhere in the world that you can relate to. For example, if a Japanese immigrant moves to France they may feel like an “alien” (an outsider), but in Japan they would feel more “comfortable” (an insider). “Richard Cory” was someone who was superior to everyone else and stood out in the crowd. The reason he committed suicide may have been that he felt like he was “different”, which made him lonely. “I am from swing sets and jungle gyms,” was a poem that expressed the childhood of an average person. They talk about going to school, visiting grandma’s house, and playing hide and go seek. If you do not go through these experiences or do things differently, does that make you an outsider? How can we judge people just because they do not act the same way we act? The poems make me realize that our world would be quite dull and repetitive if everyone had the same personality. An “outsider” is someone who is not in an environment that supports his or her identity. Whereas, an “insider”, is someone whose identity matches up with the environment that surrounds him or her. Overall, the main message for me is that people always want to fit into the “normal category” in society, but that is an idealistic and unattainable goal.