Discovering the Essence of Adolescence through Poetry

I recently went to the library to work on a group project for English Class, and when sent to find a book pertaining to our topic (Freudian psychoanalysis), I found myself happily cavorting around the shelves of the nonfiction section. This might be one of my nerdiest admissions, but I absolutely love libraries.

While my group waited, I stumbled upon a book in the psychology section that stood apart from the other technical, scholarly books about Lacanian symbols and Jungian archetypes. I read a few pages, and immediately was hooked. By the time I returned to my group, I had read a quarter of the book and knew I would finish it by the end of the night.

I Am an Emotion Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World is a collection of fictional poems by Eve Ensler. The poems vary greatly; some speakers include a suburban girl dealing with popularity, an anorexic girl documenting her struggle with food through a blog, an Iranian girl forced to get a nose job, a rape victim, and a girl forced into sex trafficking. Even though many of their experiences were foreign to me, the honesty and accuracy with which Ms. Ensler writes is powerful and easily relatable. The words could have easily come from my or a friend’s mouth in casual conversation or a whispered secret.

One of my favorite poems was “You Tell Me How to be a Girl in 2010” (If you want to hear the author perform this poem as a monologue, click here!). It really hit home for me because it was basically an angry rant about the current state of the world and our place as teenage girls within it. Here’s a passage from it that I found particularly poignant:

“What happened to teenagers rebelling

Instead of buying and selling?

What happened to teenagers kissing

Instead of blogging and dissing?

What happened to teenagers marching and refusing

Instead of exploiting and using?

I want to touch you in real time

Not find you on YouTube.

I want to walk next to you in the mountains

Not friend you on Facebook.

Give me one thing I can believe in

That isn’t a brand name.”

Ms. Ensler eloquently points out the materialistic, impersonal nature of modern interaction and teenage life. I believe living in reality, and finding ourselves in nature and human connections are goals that our generation really needs to strive towards. This book was a welcome wake-up call for me, and I highly recommend it for anyone trying to connect to essence of adolescence.

The King and the Bard: A Perfect Pairing

Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can’t help falling in love with you

When you think of Shakespearean romantic comedy, Elvis Presley isn’t usually the first image that comes to mind. But that unlikely combination is exactly what I got to experience this weekend when I saw Deerfield High School’s musical, All Shook Up. The show is based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and involves lots of mayhem, mistaken identity and falling in and out of love.

I knew absolutely nothing about it and was going to support my friend who played one of the leads. (I saw him in a show at the beginning of this year as well, detailed in this blog post) Watching All Shook Up with no expectations gave me the opportunity to enjoy it for what it was: a little cheesy, a little quirky, but performed with so much heart and talent that I couldn’t help but fall in love, too.

As I discussed in a previous post, productions such as this are just one example of the universality of great literature. At the core of Shakespeare’s works are real emotions, motivations and desires that transcend time. There are quite a few modern movies, books and other media based on the Bard’s work, such as “She’s the Man” and “10 Things I Hate About You”. Don't have time to rent a movie? I found this really adorable blog that infuses Shakespeare into everyday life.

It’s pretty amazing how the story of All Shook Up is still so resonant. The characters are down-to-earth and preoccupied with finding true love; what teenager wouldn’t connect to that? Even though the play was written 400 years ago and was supplemented with the music of a teen heartthrob from 50 years ago, it (along with Shakespeare’s other works) is still immensely enjoyable today.

Want to see some clips from the show? Check this, this and this out!