Happy New Year !!!

December 2009



To a very special group of students...............

Give a man a fish and

you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and

you feed him for a lifetime.

Lao Tzu

May you never forget.....

REFLECTIONS POETRY CONTEST 2009

A special thank you to all the participants and the faculty who encouraged their students to submit entries to this year's Reflections Magazine Poetry Contest.

Congratulations to the winners of the
2009 Reflections Magazine Poetry Contest!!!

Stevre Losse, Odel Gonzalez and Darius Orjuna

I also extend a special thank you to Lauren Ellis at Pearson Publishing for sponsoring and supporting this event for a second year.

In the next few weeks Reflections will showcase the winning entries and post additional photos, so please check back again soon.


Bert Lorenzo, Yasmin Moses and I thank all of you who contribute regularly to this magazine and have made this journey with us such a memorable and pleasurable one.
Marlene Cueto

Deranged Brilliance by Maria Balcelo

Any Hugh Laurie fans?

Maria created this piece during a night when she says she "was so inspired by his craziness in his show House."

To create this piece, she used pencils /2H 3B 8B and some charcoal.

In addition to her regular submissions to Reflections Magazine, Maria has also begun showcasing her art work on other sites such as DeviantArt.com.

The Rite of Life by Dr. George M. Gabb

Life is so precious we are forced to decide

Who under star studded skies should live or die

Neither gods nor men can free us of this burden

From the lushness of Eden to concrete streets

History, in blood is written

Of wars and conquests

Of knowledge and achievements

Of right or wrong

Of love

Of gods incomplete

Who should decide whether or not my brother eats?

Whose shelter shall be given unto him, or me, or you?

For on this ship blue there are numbered seats

Our plight like the sun shall forever rise

Until permanent slumber replaces our eyes

Then, only then shall the incessant flow of souls escheat

Swelling, cresting, bursting into Hades replete

Life is so precious we are forced to decide

Who under star studded skies should live or die

The Disability by Ms. Yasmin Moses

I have a disability.

It is not visible; therefore, you would never know if you saw me walking down the street!

It is not rare, but it is gives me motivation.

This disability challenges my learning.

It does not define me, but it does hurt me!

It is an agonizing pain that is consistently in the back of my mind.

It has broken my understanding and gives me no remorse.

This is a silent disability that only surfaces when it's time to calculate, read, or write.

It is defined as dyscalculia, dyslexia, and dyscraphia…

The worst part of this disability is it has been a part of my life for a long time.

Yet, in retrospect, it is a disability that I have learned to make an ability.

I have failed and succeeded through it.

Many try to understand, but they simply do not!

I must admit it has driven me to conquer my fears, fear of learning…

The disability arrived well in stride when I reached college, and still exists to this day!

The dream overcame the disability and made college possible,

because I made this disability, an ability within me!

Dedicated to those who learn differently, always remember a disability, is an ability!

I Used to Read by Professor Bert Lorenzo

I used to read biography.

My mom bought them for me.

She said I’d learn about success

and how to avoid catastrophe.

I used to read World Book Encyclopedia.

All summer I read article after article.

What a cornucopia!

I used to read history.

I learned events repeat themselves

so the future really isn’t a mystery.

I used to read fiction.

In college it became my predilection.

I read it so much it felt like an addiction.

I read all sorts of things

from the Bible to Lord of the Rings.

Every day now I read the paper.

Filled with news when I leave my house

I feel safer.

I read everything from anthropology to zoology.

I even skim astrology.

I turn page after page

in search of wisdom from some sage.

I read all sort of text.

What will I read next?

Copyright 2009

Visiting the Boneyard by Professor Stephanie Packer

I don’t own these bones though I’ve grown quite attached.

Cervical lumbar thoracic

Mineral families live in my back.

My blood’s damned attractive.

Ebbs and flows as it should.

Yet at night I get nervous.

Is it up to no good?

The breath comes so freely.

That is -- Till it Don’t.

Took off in one eye-blink

Left no suicide note.

The brain is its own place.

A nut in the skull.

Cop, jury, and hangman

Judgmental as hell.

You get the picture.

One can hardly refuse

To be busted

Committed

Just a little

bemused.