anonymous poet

I wake; the dreamless sleep has past. Behind the shadows of yesterday there lies a beauty, not passed away. How marvellous and sweet, the taste of your lip. Holding me back is but a scratch in The timeline.

Anonymous

Love happens every day to millions of people all over the world. Where a child is born, there is love; where a father blesses his daughters marriage, there is love; where a boy sits in a nursing home listening to stories, there is love; when a man looks at his precious girl, there is love; when a mother yells at her son, there is love. Love is all around us, it’s what we were born into and what we will know many times throughout our lives.

Snap!

Today I had a presentation. It was not unlike many presentations I’ve had, or will have, in the future. It was creating a program idea and defending the proposal for funding to the class. We focused on an issue, the need, the response to the need - implementing a program - and then the evaluation of that program. The group started with two people (it was supposed to be 4-5) and after working on it for only two days, we had the right information for a full defence of our idea program.
Our idea is called Snap. Snap will target the issue of Somali girls dropping out of high school. There is a need for healthy, safe, culture specific, skills-oriented, and self-led programming in the Islington/Finch area. Snap will provide film cameras to 15 girls for 6 months and hold Thursday-Friday 3 hour long meetings. The first two meetings will have a professional photographer come in. Initially, the photographer will focus on the actual use of the camera. I found these really amazing cameras online.
The idea is that, by trusting these girls with cameras and asking them to take pictures of their community, the girls will feel trustworthy, respected, liked and accomplished. Although these are not very ** measurable** outcomes, they can be evaluated through careful observance, along with conventional methods of evaluation. We can fill out intake forms as they join the 6 month program. This will certify that they are going to dedicate themselves to the program. This intake form will cover general contact information as well as begin to set a portfolio for that individual. This portfolio will also translate into their photography portfolio.
I guess when I was coming up with the logistics of this plan, I kind of took it into my own hands, to see what I would do in the situation of the Community Worker who would implement that program. It’s a great idea actually.
The other portion that is measurable is the girls smiles. We will host a photo exhibition at the end of 6 months. The photos will all be film processed and therefore very authentic. We can create a very cool environment as a Lobby Group, hosting a photo exhibition that has emphasis on Social Change, Social Capital, Education and Environment, Culture, Social-Lives of Teenagers, and whatever else the girls want to take pictures of!
This will be a very fluid program with a lot of external factors that must be expected. A lot of assumptions can also be made, whether they’re right or wrong is another question.

If any one has any questions about my idea, let me know. I’d be happy to talk further about it. It’s a passion of mine to see improvement in the lives of others.

Lucas Michael Roberts

Why?

I have never really wondered why the rivers all flow so long and smoothly.
I have never really wondered why the crickets speak a language more beautiful than ours.
I have never really wondered why it is more comfortable to sleep lying, not standing.
I have never really wondered why things appear closer in mirrors than in reality.
I have never really wondered why the rose takes time to grow into a beautiful flower.
I have never really wondered why the oceans are deeper than the sky is high.
I have never really wondered why the eagle has better vision than us.
I have never really wondered why gold is more precious than silver.
I have never really wondered why men strive for greatness, power and authority.
I have never really wondered why we fight for love, something that is so in-tangible.
I have never really wondered why fire is more important than food.
I have never really wondered why time is so slow.

Toronto - Home

What is it like living in Toronto when you’re from Petrolia? I sometimes get questions like this, it’s not that bad though; in fact, it’s exactly what I’ve always wanted. A childhood dream come true. In case you didn’t know, I actually live in a suburban city that is just North of Steeles, the last East-West Street in Toronto. So, it’s about a 10 minute walk to Toronto. Toronto is really big, bigger than we give credit to. My placement is on the Esplanade, which is almost on the water front, Downtown Toronto. It takes me about an hour and a half to arrive at their office door. My school is on King St. This means that every morning, I finally wake while I am on the subway. Then, walking up the stairs to the intersection at King and Yonge, I see Toronto.
Would I be right in saying that there is a stereotype surrounding the quickness of Toronto? I think it’s really interesting because, when you live here, it doesn’t seem that fast. I mean the diversity and lack of commonalities makes conversation and eye contact a bit different, but when I walk down Yonge Street or make my way up Church, or stroll through the “sketchy” neighbourhoods, I am reminded that this is Canada. The Crime Rate in Toronto in 2010 was 3.3 persons / 100, 000. Detroit is ten times that.
Now, there are certain precautions I take part in: I always look both ways before crossing the street. I never walk home without a knife on me. And I always put on broader shoulders than the person coming up to me. Make them scared of me instead of showing fear to them. I mean, I wear dress pants and pink shirts, they must be scared that my guard is going to come out from behind and kill. Or maybe I’ll just pull out my jet pack; “why even bother man, he’s got a jet pack…” they might say.
A day in my life, LOL, wouldn’t y’all like to know…
Wake up at 7. Shower. Tea or coffee. Cereal. Walk. Bus. Subway. Streetcar. Walk. Class. Hungry. Streetcar. Subway. Bus. Walk. Soup/sandwich at home. Pheeew. It’s a good thing I love my program and I don’t mind sleeping on common transit.
“What program are you in, Lucas?”
“It’s called community work…”


What the heck is that!?
Well, basically, I have been learning, over the past two years, all about our Canadian society. How it works from all different levels. From the marginalized individuals, to the visible minorities, to the immigrants, prostitutes, the LGBTQ Community, boys, girls, stakeholders in public and private institutions, the education system (students, teachers, the board, etc.), government systems, civil societies, the non-profit sector, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I have a fairly holistic knowledge of these things, and so, when I work in the community, I can do intake assessments for marginalized individuals in need of social assistance, liaison work within the school system, lobbying with political parties, creating not-for-profit organizations, advocating for the minorities, charity work for immigrant workers, counselling single mothers/fathers/students/elderly individuals, writing reports on research, proposal writing for organizations, and much more. It is the kind of career that will have many avenues that are available. I’ll be a man of many hats, as they say.
I often get asked why I like this line of work. Well, it’s kind of a passion, I guess. We all know that passions are the things that you love to learn, revise, practice and perform right? Like music. I’ve been learning guitar for almost seven years now. The whole way, I just keep learning, revising, practicing and performing new material and it has been wonderful.
I have ADD. I have this attention span that works really weirdly. I honestly can’t pay attention to many conversations with people if it does not interest me. And since grade nine, when they start forcing “decisions” down your throat, I would pay the most attention to helping people and music; all with Toronto involved. So, what did I do? I went to school for people and invested my own time into music. My two passions, the things I can’t lose attention for. They are pursuing me while I practice them. Each new chord I learn, finger picking pattern, tuning. Each new document I read, assessment I complete, conversation I fall in to.

I hope I can encourage you, find your passions, your dreams, your self, and pursue it to the point that it hurts your fingers and you fall asleep on your text. It’s the only way to keep up with the time that so quickly passes. A year goes by quickly, and in these times, economy is only going downward. Stay ahead now and you’ll stay ahead for life. Here’s hoping, at least.

Cheers from another planet,
Lucas Michael Roberts

It’s time for the end of my summer. The start of some really exciting things, which I’ll touch on later, and some new learning experiences that are just around the corner. I think I’ve lost a bit of my writing touch, but by the same token, I’ve started to talk a lot more. That was something I learned. To properly converse, take the time to share your points. I haven’t had a connected phone for over a month, and I’ve learned that without my parents, I’m making good choices for myself?! It’s amazing! And I worked at a telemarketing company. Word of advice. Don’t do that. It’s very boring. In fact, after learning the script, you can quite easly do other things. I read Plato, Socrates, Hume (philosophy) and, of course, Metro and 24 (free papers). I never once, although readily accessible, read the Globe and Mail newspaper that was over 30% off the regular price with a 25$ gift cirtificate from Chapters/Indigo BLAH BLAH BLAH…

I need to get back in the habit of writing on this, but for now, this will have to do. My fingers are honestly a bit sore. Dear Diary, today I typed too much, I miss you’re tattered pages…

Change

It’s a wonder, how things they change. You try to make a plan, it never stays the same. This is a quote from Aaron Espe’s “change” from the album Songs from a Small Town. It seems that this is, in all ways good and bad, different and mediocre, something that we become used to throughout our journeys through life. We never really know what might be around the next metaphorical corner. It’s always a game of letting go of and holding tightly to the things we expect to be constants in our daily walks.
Lately, I’ve been growing a lot, thinking of an idea, be it strange or significant, and following through with the tangible goodness. It’s a wonder, how things they change. You try to make a plan, it never stays the same.
And even when a moment it moved on from, the memory still remains. I’ve become okay with these memories as a portion of my long life; phases. Is this selfish? I don’t really think so. Every person is an individual and all through life, be it certain yet surprising, we project thoughts onto one another and sometimes lose track of ourselves.
There is always wisdom found in words. In how they are spoken, with gestures and facial emotions that are so easily read by those who are perceptive enough to learn through this individual and shared wisdom. There is a reason that the english language has many euphemisms, each equipped with layers of meaning, understood differently by every individual person.
From this, all I ask that you take and grapple with is that you are free to take advice from everyone disregarding their biases and innuendoes, taking from it what you will. The only thing one must do to become a good, integral part of a conversation is to actively listen and intelligently respond: this is reciprocal, of course, and must be done by all parties involved. It’s age old wisdom to treat others how you’d like to be treated. Why not dig into this and move forward instead of becoming a lighthouse which can guide but not move. We are all on journeys, as different as they are, but it is most important to be pious and give everyone the chance of learning that you’d like to be given.

Lucas