Confession to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
Emma Z.
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Born in Beijing, I came to the United States when I was three years old and have continued to feel a sense of longing and kinhood with the city I left behind and the invisible ways in which it has shaped me. "Confession to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics" is a meditation on just that, the conflicting emotions that come with loving your birth town while living in a home so far away, especially given the hostile Chinese American relationship. I thought the Olympics captured this sense of competition and unease yet global reconciliation well. The motifs of fire and ice illustrate my passion and affection versus the situations I am faced with, the "thin ice" on which I stand and "skate." I also like the connotations to global warming and the end of the world (like "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost), further signifying the frenzy and experience of living in a complicated world. The decision of spacing aims to illustrate a transcending of the typical narrative/story I am telling of my immigration and more personally portray my affection for Beijing—how it transcends borders, time, and reason. The taking off of the leotard at the end is also a symbol of removing all the external conditions and loving Beijing fully and purely. While writing this piece, I find myself reading it out loud over and over again to ensure it sounds like a confession from me; a genuine verbal letter to the city that will never leave me.
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Creativity means the ability to express all the intricacies and reflections of experiences in a form that challenges perspectives and illuminates the poetic beauty in the world. It's combing sound, images, words, and emotions—it's the purest reflection of what it means to be human, universally as well as personally.
