Still Together We Stand
Asha B.
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I wrote this poem because I was inspired by the activist work of students my age around the country who were protesting gun violence. As someone who's school has experienced bomb and shooter threats, I resonated to the topic and wanted to write a poem about it. I was inspired by the strength of the rhyming pattern in Maya Angelou's poem Still I Rise and also the juxtaposition (or discrepancies) of the freedom our country promises and the reality we often face. I drew from these ideas and came to the idea of writing a message to school shooters to represent that, as difficult and complex as these situations are, this problem isn't going away, the student's stories are not forgotten, and we will always find hope and a path to the future with the help of our community.
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To me, creativity is who I am; it's also a way I make the world better by sharing with others. It's a way for me to share my passion for art with the people I love, inspire thought provoking conversations, fight for issues I care about, and express myself.