As my workplace internship for the Fellows program, I have been blessed to work at Ravenscroft School in North Raleigh. Not only is Ravenscroft filled with incredibly welcoming people, but it also incites hundreds of memories in me, since it is where I attended school Pre-K through 12th grade. For seven months now, I have worked in a place that feels like a second home, with people who treat me like family. I am not blind to the incredible blessing this is, and I am so very thankful to the school for the opportunity I have been given to work in such a place.
This semester at Ravenscroft, my work has looked a little different, because I am now teaching a creative writing class in the Upper School. So, for an hour most days, I head down the hill from Lower School to a classroom of four students and one other teacher, and I try to share what knowledge I have about a subject that has always been a passion for me. This week, we're on poetry, and I had the students read a poem called "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon. Then, they had to write their own versions of that poem, but talking about themselves. Crafting this assignment inspired me to, for the first time since I started Fellows, do a little creative writing of my own. I completed the assignment along with my students, and I thoroughly enjoyed it...
Where I'm From
I am from empty bread aisles with chances of snow,
From high school sweethearts still going strong.
I am from Cheerwine and Cook-Out.
From chocolate and summer rain storms.
I am from a bubble, a glass floor, a name that weighs on my shoulders.
From Little Coo to Mango to Calleykinz.
I am from “Bless your heart” and Falls of Neuse.
I am from privilege that the world will never let me forget.
I am from touch and heart.
From smelling old books, cracked seams, torn edges, quiet turns.
From fat, carb, comfort,
Gallons of swallowed pool water and countless softball sliding scars.
I am from Disney princesses, The Fellowship, and The Jedi Order.
I am from daydreams of kisses and swordfights,
From sharp sarcasm and thin skin,
From war and rom-coms.
I am from Iowa City, Branson, and Deer Valley.
From Eze, Spoleto, and Lancaster.
I am from duned beaches and Blue Ridge mountains.
I am from airplanes and wanderlust.
I am from Blue Devils and a pack of red wolves,
From Hurricanes and hurricanes,
Cherokees and pale, sunburned skin.
I am from contradiction after contradiction.
I am from a kingdom and the King,
From another world to come.
I am from my past and for my future.
I am from more than anyone could ever imagine.
~ Calley