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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Tangerine

“Tangerine” is a song I wrote about my close friend. I could tell that she was struggling so much with mental health, but she wouldn't tell me, or anybody. This inspired me to write a song directly addressed to her. After writing the lyrics, I record the guitar and vocals.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

growing pains

The song that I wrote is called “Growing Pains”. I wrote this song during a time in my life when there was so much change and I felt like my childhood was essentially over, despite only being 16. My sister who I was very close with moved out for college 2,000 miles away, I by then had no more grandparents, and I suddenly felt like I was running out of time.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

The Meaning of Life

thinking about itMy work was originally just a thought that had popped into my head one day, I kept and decided to write about it. I am showing my opinion on the meaning of life, showing how love is the meaning of life. I have though about what the meaning of life is for years and years till I finally figured it out. This work is just exploring more into my thought process and giving examples of how and why I believe these things.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Fruit Plates as Apologies

This year, and in general, as I get older and older, I have struggled to write poetry. Sometimes it seems as though the vividness of imagination leaves my mind, leaving only desolate words and metaphors behind. So, I turned to my own memories, and just started writing.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Harmony

I wrote this poem while reflecting on the issues of society today and how people have become so separated and divided. I hoped to convey the idea that when we stop fighting to stand apart, we might be able to accomplish a lot more, and that if we work together, we can form a much richer and healthier society.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Made of Stardust

These poems are from a collection of poetry I call My First Apocalypse. To fall in love is to be in the midst of an apocalypse. There is no safety when you are offering your own heart to someone else. These poems explore the spectrum of love and the lack of it.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Make No Mistake

As an aspiring author, I have always been a fan of the fantasy genre. The idea that we can create worlds with the typing of a keyboard has always been fascinating, and it has been a hobby of mine for a long time. “Make No Mistake” is a piece that I hope will one day become a novel. I wanted to combine the wonder of a fantasy world with the excitement of a mystery and thriller to captivate the audience.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

A Stroll in a Grand Town

Seated at the piano in an attempt to come up with a new melody, I found no luck until I looked up from the piano and into the living room, where my sister was watching the film Paddington...again. As my sister laughed, I began to weave melodies that echoed the cheerful spirit of Paddington's escapades.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Crawling on an Ocean of Wasabi Peas and Memories / Like A Metal to a Magnet or a Planet to a Star

The first poem describes the way I face negative emotions, typically with struggling to overcome how my thoughts spiral. However, my resilience allows me to channel my negative emotions into my art and writing. I composed tithe second poem in the beginning of12th grade. I am someone who values connections, especially when it comes to the one with my sister. Occasionally some aspects of my cherished relationships confront me with challenges and invite me to write poetry.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Still Together We Stand

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.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

ALL THAT AND I STILL LOVE HIM

My parents divorced when I was five years old, but I always relate to people whose parents have a strained relationship (they are good now: divorced but good). So, that's what I decided to write about. This story is about a queer couple struggling with their ability to support each other, but still withhold love for one another. Hopefully, at some point I will expand this piece, but as of now, it is a five minute play.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Life as a Diabetic

I wrote this piece using my life as a diabetic as a forefront. This writing brought up a lot of emotions I hadn't yet confronted about my diabetes. This writing isn't just my experience as a diabetic put to paper, it's also me confronting what I hadn't.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Butterfly Evolution (Poems)

Butterfly Evolution (Poems) is a poetic reflection of growing up in the modern age. Diving into the injustices and current events of our world today in “Butterfly Fall”. Commentary on human’s relationship with technology (specifically phones) in “iPhone”. While the collection concludes how people use art as an outlet for the injustices of the world today and is an ode to artists (especially poets).

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

The Forged Identity

My work is based on real life scenarios. This includes examples such as financial abuse and fraud being shown in a long term relationship. This work is an extension of a story where the main character faces a challenging situation where she is lied to and how she overcomes it while developing as a person with new changes coming forward to her life.

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Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Creative Writing, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

HereThere

My piece is a criticism of America's preoccupation with race with a special focus on the lack of a MENA status and national representation. I seek to debunk the societal fixation on white normativity as it relates to millions of MENA Americans such as myself, and families like my own.

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