Photos of the Millennium.

I remember when I was in New York and my mom and I made a long trip to ground zero. We made plenty of mistakes on the subway and had trouble finding it because of all the construction. By the time we were finally there I was just exhausted and had no interest in being there. It was in the middle of December, windy, and misting outside. But when I reached the area where the buildings once stood, my heart sank. When you stand at the bottom of a building in New York and you take in it's enormity you feel so small and a little helpless. But standing where the Twin Towers once stood and you're only able to imagine the enormity of the buildings is an even worse feeling. I kept looking up and imagining the buildings and all the people. But sometimes it's easy to think of people as just...people. Things you pass everyday and background images of your life. When I finally looked down at the caved in part where they had made two fountains where the towers once stood and I saw the names of all of the people who died, is when I lost it. Reading a name and realizing that the woman might have had a daughter or son who had received the news or a husband or mom was just so horrifying. I cried so hard. I was too young to grasp the emergency of the situation on 9/11 when it occurred. But when I was actually at the location and reading the names, the sitaution became too real and too hard for me to handle.

The Thing About School...

I'm going to be an annoying teenager ranting about the flaws in the system for a few minutes while I'm still worked up.
I have come to terms with they way my mind works. I like letters and words and sentences and stories. These are the things I am good at and that I enjoy. I know this. I've known this for awhile. So why should I have had to take any math classes beyond the basics? Why will I  have to when I start college? I can't think with numbers or math or science. My mind doesn't travel from point A to B. My mind takes a short break at Q and remembers an interesting fact from H. I can't see things as black and white. There will always be gray. I think in "maybe's" and "if's". So why is the school system trying to fit a square piece into a circle hole? Why are they frying my brain? I can't think that way. It's driving me insane. I'm taking College Algebra right now so these feelings are more than fresh.

Lyric Shuffle.

I wrote three different poems from the lyrics. 

The highlighted parts are the ones I took from songs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's strange to think that sandy beaches used to be just rocks

Kind of like how I used to be whole pieces but now I'm just broken parts

Tangled knots and misguided thoughts

A story with so many beginnings and brand new starts

I'm trying to find myself in all this jumbled mess

I’ll just keep on making the same mistakes hoping that you’ll understand

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You're the fear, I don't care
'Cause I've never been so high
Follow me through the dark
Let me take you past our satellites
You can see the world you brought to life

Like we're on a different wavelength

Just coasting on whitewater

This is fine

This is fine

I need to train my mind to be stronger

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Give me your best

We'll figure out the rest

When I'm not looking for anything too serious

You can tell me when it's over

If the high was worth the pain

Its a mystery

An infinite

A never ending story

That starts with you and me

and ends with just me

repeat.

101 Facts About Me

1)     My name is Leslie Maness

2)     I am 18 and a senior at Kickapoo

3)     Usually when I talk about being a senior in high school I make a joke about being a senior citizen.

4)     I’ve played soccer for as long as I can remember and stopped my senior year.

5)     I tore my ACL and that kind of ruined it for me.

6)     I like to sing and write my own songs.

7)     I have a scar in between my thumb and pointer finger from running up a hill while playing my Gameboy color when I was little.

8)     I have a scar on my right elbow from my “skater girl” phase where I made my mom buy me a skateboard.

9)     I can’t skateboard

10) I’m rarely embarrassed. My friends hate it.

11) When I was little my mom and I found a cat in the park and I made her take it back to our house

12) I named my cat Kiko and it jumped in my bath and scratched me once.

13) I spent my whole life thinking Kiko had run away and last year I found out that my mom had let him out because he kept peeing on her shoes.

14) I also found out Kiko was a boy last year.

15) I remember my mom and I living in a small duplex when I was younger.

16) There was a kid that lived in the other half of the duplex but I don’t remember his name. I just remembered that he had a gumball machine and love for Transformers.

17) One day I was hopping the fence that divided our backyards and I ripped my pants.

18) My mom used to make chocolate milk every morning for me before day care and preschool.

19) Sometimes before bed my mom would let me fall asleep on the couch while I would watch the TV show Cheers. I didn’t understand anything that happened in that show but for some reason I liked it.

20) I used to go to day care at a lady named Carolins house.

21) She would watch Soap Operas during our nap time. She had a giant TV and watched it in the same room we napped in. I would usually just stay awake and watch them.

22) One time she washed my mouth out with soap. I can’t remember what I said. I think I called a boy stupid. I do remember that it tasted awful.

23) Carolin would give everyone jaw breakers but my mom wouldn’t let me have jaw breakers so she never gave me any.

24) There was a field of cows that you had to pass to get to Carolins house.

25) My dad and I lived in a little yellow house.

26) The backyard was huge (or at least felt huge as a little kid) and there were a lot of rabbits.

27) We were walking distance from Baskin Robbins.

28) One time I tricked my grandma into buying me bubble gum ice cream because she didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to chew bubble gum.

29) My dad’s house had a basement and he liked to play records. I remember him playing the Go Go’s most distinctly.

30)I would force my dad to let me play “hair dresser lady” where I would proceed to put unnecessary amounts of mousse in his hair.

31)We would also play “library lady” I think in this game I just gave him books. I was really young and entertained easily.

32) I really liked Scooby Doo when I was younger but it also scared the living daylights out of me.

33) My dad and I would watch Scooby Doo and play Candyland together.

34) I grew to fear ghosts and the child psychologist I went to suggested that my parents give me a spray bottle and a tube of glitter. I would spray and sprinkle them every night before bed because my parents told me it would keep ghosts away.

35) When I was 3 or 4 I would read a cook book every night before bed and sleep with it under my pillow at my dad’s house

36)I think that jinxed me because now I can’t cook

37) I’m running out of time to write this.

38)I am a procrastinator

39)I had my heart set on leaving Missouri but then I visited the Mizzou campus

40) It has a pool with a freaking lazy river which is a bit over the top.

41) I have really bad anxiety problems.

42) I haven’t had a nightmare in a really lomg time.

43) I think I’m going to a Smallpools concert in Tulsa next Friday.

44)Me and Alora are having a hard time finding a hotel that let’s you check in at 18 so the plans might fall through.

45) I didn’t go to sleep until 2am last night because I kept pushing off doing my homework

46)I’m going to be so tired at prom

47) to be continued...

Song Narrative Poem

You had phases and patterns
Some nights
you were so bright and whole
Some nights
It felt like you were never there at all
But through it all
You made it so that
It never became too dark
And I appreciate that.

I thought of this when I was listening to Atlas by Shannon Saunders. It never says anything about the night or moon but it made me think of a person like a moon so I made it about that.

Teachers+Music

I asked Ms. Orman about her favorite music.


Q: What music or songs reminds you of your chilhood?

A: Anything from the 80's or from soundtracks from the 80's


Q:Who is your favorite singer or group or song and why?

A: Bruce Springsteen songs like No Surrender have a really good message and have a nostalgic feeling.


Q:What music reminds you of someone you love? Your child? Spouse? Parents?

A: Fun country songs remind me of summers with my family.


Q: Do you go to concerts? Which concerts are memorable to you?

A: Not a lot because crowds weird me out. I went to a music festival and saw Bruce Springsteen.


Q: What radio stations do you listen to?

A: I usually listen to NPR. I listen to 106.7 when I want to listen to music because it has a lot of  variety


Q:Which music or artist was controversial to some when you were growing up?

A: George Michael- I Want Your Sex


Q:Which music or artist do you really dislike or refuse to listen to?

A: Country when it comes to artists like Luke Bryant                                                                                                                      

Music to my ears

1) When I listen to music I either feel at peace or really excited. Sometimes it makes me really sad. It depends on how I feel that day.

2) My favorite song changes constantly. Right now it is probably Colors by Halsey because her lyrics are so honest and realistic. She writes with a lot of emotion and is comfortable with who she is and the people around her.

3) I used to listen to Top 20 music. In middle school everyone listened to Pop Punk and so did I. I guess I've come full circle because I started listening to it again in my sophomore year.

4) I like a genres except Rap, Country, and Screamo. I will listen to anything else because I like lyrics and different stories and perspectives.

5) My friends and I do listen to the same music. I think we influence each other and in a lot of ways our similar taste in music brought us together.

6) Without music the world would be a lot of people with bundled up emotions and people not being able to connect.

7) Without music my life would be very sad. I like relating to music and not feeling alone in the way I feel.

8) I admire the music of Twenty One Pilots because their music is different, fearless, and honest.

9) One event I connect to music is when I was in middle school and listened to the band Simple Plan. I thought I was really complicated and that music talked about how being a teen was hard. Now I just think they are ridiculous.

10) I think all music is an expression of feelings and people have that right.

11) I think that music saves a lot of people around the world. People are able to identify and connect with others feelings and I think that is a very important thing to have.

12) Music can add drama and intensity into ant situation.

13) Yes music is poetry. I think that the lyrics "You're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece" are very poetic. They are by Halsey.

14) Music makes me forget about everything or make me think about everything.

15) I play guitar piano, sing, and write lyrics so I would love that.

Pillow Talk

Tossing and turning

like waves hitting the shoreline

pull in and push out

I looked at the picture and thought it looked like a messy bed. It gave me a groggy feeling. Like being half awake and half asleep. I was in the back of the room so it was hard to see. But what I thought were the pillows looked like water to me. Like when you are laying at the bottom of a pool and look up at the surface so that you can see the sunlight breaking through. So maybe this person wasn't done dreaming. They are only half conscious and everything is watery.

The Hopper

This painting reminded me of my first day in Paris. I hadn't slept at all on the plane or the night before so once we were in the cab on our way to the apartment we were staying in I rested. Once we got there we got out of the cab and in my sleepy daze I left my purse in the cab. My uncle ran after the cab all the way down the street and got it for me. We then went inside and crowded into the smallest elevator known to man. We then dropped our stuff off and walked until we found a restaurant that we thought would be nice. I was still tired and kind of miserable and very hungry because the plane food wasn't good.  I ordered French Onion soup and it was impossible to eat and I was already grumpy. The cheese was impossible to pull apart. It was delicious but a hassle. The restaurant kind of looks the same as the one pictured above so that's what I thought of.

Artist Profile: Georgia O'Keeffe

My artists name is Georgia O'Keeffe.
She was born November 15th, 1887 in Sun Prarie Wisconsin.
Her fathers name was Francis O'keeffe and her mother was Ida O'Keeffe.
They were both farmers.
Georgia was the 2nd of 7 siblings.
She studied art in Chicago and New York.
She was married to Alfred Stieglitz.

5 Major Accomplishments:
She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters 
She was the first retrospective show of a woman's art at the Museum of Modern Art 
She was awarded the Gold Medal of Painting by the National Institute of Arts and Letters 
She was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor 
 and President Ronald Reagan presented the National Medal of Arts to her.

Fun Fact: She lived to be 98!

Georgia O'Keeffe usually made pictures of flowers and animal skulls. She also painted skies and cities. She drew a lot of her inspiration from Mexico. She is associated with American Modernism. 

Three Paintings:
Cows Skull: Red White and Blue


Sky Above Clouds IV

Blue and Green Music




Pieces I like:
Ballet Skirt or Electric Light
I like this piece because you get to decide what it is.



Abstraction Blue
This one is at a weird angle of a flower. I like it because of its colors.