SCMAker

Description

This video is a lovesong to anyone who is struggling with self-image and self-love, incorporating my original poem, Recognize You, set to a mixture of original and curated video and images (Canva), and instrumental music (Algar).

Reflection

During my time as a high school teacher, 2016-2024, I would write a poem every year for my students and perform it for every class during our end of year spoken word celebrations. I wrote this poem in 2019, inspired by the resilience of both my students and the Florida native plant Bidens Alba, also known as shepherd’s needles, beggarticks, Spanish needles, or butterfly needles. This plant is the “third most common source of nectar for honey production in Florida” (FLA), and it’s “young leaves and flowers are edible” attracting native bees and more than 30 types of native butterflies, yet it is usually only seen in neglected areas, and it is never sold in garden centers, as it isn’t a glamorous or showy plant, and often considered a weed to be removed from manicured gardens.

As an English teacher, I was often privy to students’ more personal writings about their experiences and insecurities, in this poem, I seek to reassure them that no matter how the world sees them, they are infinitely and uniquely seen, known, and valued by God, the ultimate creator and designer of all beauty.

In setting this poem to images and music, I edited sections to make it more concise and to be more precise with tone and mood. Originally, the first slide read “pock-marked” which I replaced with “acne-scarred” to be more accessible to a younger audience, who may not be familiar with the scarring created by smallpox as it has been eradicated. I also removed a line which emphasized the role of Biden Alba “no pollination, no plants, no life” as I wanted to have a stronger focus on people, with the plant in a supporting role for the theme of self-acceptance.

I had wanted to use Rebecca Ferguson’s Teach Me How to be Loved as the backing music, but the melody was too strong to be spoken over. I therefore selected a track which was designed as background music, but which still has a voice to it through use of the violin. The composer had named this song Old Tree, with the following keywords: romantic, sentimental, countryside, acoustic, nature, and beauty which complements the theme of the poem which intertwines a nature-based metaphor with seeing oneself as beauty to be cherished, the same as one would see, and be seen by, a partner in a romantic relationship. In some practices, God is seen as a distant deity, however I wanted to convey the sense of a God who fully sees, fully knows, and fully loves His every creation, no matter how unloved we may feel by the rest of the world.

Works Cited

Algar, J., Old Tree (audio) Epidemic Sound. n.d. Retrieved December 6th, 2024.

Florida Wildflower Foundation (n.d.). Beggarticks. Https://www.Flawildflowers.org. Retrieved December 7, 2024, from https://www.flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-bidens-alba/

Sutherland, J. R., Recognize you, 2019 (unpublished)