XPI Student Showcase
Welcome to Xpress Plugged In, our new online gallery of student expressions. Please follow the submission instructions CAREFULLY. New work will be posted every Monday.
-- Nancy Green, editor of XPI
Selections for the Week of 8/09/2010
Afternoon Nap, acrylic on paper and wood frame
Cari Robaldo, 10th grade, Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School, St. Petersburg
Central High School,
Brooksville
Wind
I stop, and I listen
To the wind as it sings.
I let it lift me up on streams that glisten,
And I fly on nonexistent wings.
It sings a song that no one hears
But everyone seems to know.
The notes are a whisper as it blows past your ears
So take a moment to listen when you see the wind blow.
The song it plays has no words,
Yet hidden in the breeze is a story.
Flying on its gentle song are the birds;
Most just watch the wind blow in all of its glory,
But still I will stand listening
To the wind as it blows whistling.
Keanan Gretano, 11th grade
Thirsty , digital photograph
Allyson Puckett, ninth grade, Admiral Farragut Academy, St. Petersburg
Plant High School,
Tampa
My Eyes Are Blue (All about Me)
When I look into someone's eyes, there is always that moment when I can see deeper. I can see what they are feeling. Sometimes I can feel it too, sometimes unwillingly, especially the people close to me. In memory, I can recall happy eyes, eyes that gush warmth and comfort. Smiley eyes -- those make you want to smile. Surprised eyes -- eyes filled with fear and panic. These eyes make me feel scared, too. Terrified is a better word. There is one memory of those eyes. Frantic, helpless eyes I still see to this day. The eyes of my daddy at a time in my life when I wasn't eating. He was shouting at me to eat, shoving a spoon in my face, pleading with frustrated eyes. He couldn't make me eat and he knew that. He was helpless and it hurt. That emotion screamed through, and I never want to see those eyes again.
My eyes show a young girl who wouldn't hurt a fly. My eyes reveal a coward because I'm afraid of everything. I'm afraid of getting sick because I don't want to hurt my parents, not like that again. Little me -- she's terrified. Sometimes I feel I haven't grown up, but over time I have watched my friends grow, go through things, become pretty and make friends. It is easy, right? For them, maybe. Now I sound sad. We should all appreciate ourselves more. Nothing goes how you want it to, but I just wish things were the way I want them to be.
In my eyes, you see a girl afraid to trust, but she trusts anyway. In my eyes, you see a girl afraid to hurt people, so she hurts instead. In my eyes, you see a girl told to be careful and not do it, but she longs and lusts crazily. In my eyes, you see a regular girl wanting to open up her beauty. In my eyes, you see a girl terrified of a world she's already walked halfway across.
Olivia Lowry, ninth grade
Still Life, mixed media
Jessica Piotti, third grade, SunFlower Private School, Gulfport