I’ve always been interested in bugs.
When I was little, my mom tried to make me less afraid of them by putting a ladybug on my hand. It bit me. It wasn’t a ladybug. But since then, I’ve loved insects anyway, especially bees.
Poetry is my biggest passion. I think it captivates people in a way that not everything can. Art in general is an incredible way to talk to people about difficult issues, since they’re drawn in by the beauty, and stick around for the conversation. When I go to art museums, I find myself searching for why artists created particular pieces, and being intrigued by the meaning behind everything. I learn about their lives and their struggles because of my own curiosity, and all they had to do was use a color that I thought was an odd choice. One of my professors, Lily Woodruff, was very passionate about art and the way that art was impacted by environmental issues, and she encouraged me to not be limited by the general definition of ‘art’.
I decided to branch out into my favorite form of artistic expression and use poetry for the CAL Arts & Research Forum. I wanted to do something that felt beautiful in the same way I find bees, and what they do for our world, to be beautiful. The research fueled my creativity and provided me with emotions to pour into poems. I wanted to get across the hurt that a queen bee would feel when her wings were clipped, and I wanted the reader to understand how helpless these creatures are despite the world viewing them as painful pests. I wanted them to feel the anger that I felt when I found out how little our country cared for these fuzzy little creatures.
It’s the kind of hurt and frustration that can’t be carried in statistics alone. It’s these feelings that drive people to act rather than the statistics that they’ll forget as soon as you’ve told them. I’ve always wanted to write about global issues, about politics, about things that matter. Unfortunately, I’ve never been one for informational novels, biographies, or pages of data. This project for the CAL Arts & Research Forum helped me see what kind of writing I could really fall in love with: a combination of creative writing and pressing political issues. Some of the best books that I’ve read have been written by journalists who’ve collected stories from people who have lived whatever the journalist is writing about. Stories from those who have escaped from North Korea or horrific tales from Kenyans who were tortured by British soldiers, all written down and beautifully retold to create a captivating piece that means something. That’s what I want to do with my future, and this project was just the first step in realizing that.
Bees are small, and this project was small. But the impact of both is unbelievable.