how to tie your shoes
My mother hates that my shoes are always untied. It's not that I don't tie them, I do, but they always seem to come undone. Two loops, cross them over. I tie my shoes differently than my friends. It's just the way I was taught, long ingrained into brain and muscle. Pull the bottom loop through the middle. I don't remember who taught me this or how I learned. Do they know that they are the reason I trip every day? Pull. Maybe I should change the way I tie my shoes, maybe I tie them strangely and that's why they always come undone. Maybe I don’t know how to unlearn a habit. I’m aware that these laces will soon come undone, and I will make a choice: tie them again, knowing this unstable knot will fall out once more, or to walk with untied laces, knowing I will fall.
Ploutōn — LUCA RILEY ‘22
Last year for AP Portfolio, I was required to develop a concentration focused on a direct subject and motive. While creating simple personified portraits of the planets in the Solar System, my concentration evolved into narrative pieces, experimenting with composition and storytelling. I drew inspiration from Greco-Roman mythology, using the traits of each planet's respective Roman god or goddess , and their Greek counterparts. This year, I am trying to go further with the narrative aspects, and rather than mythology being merely inspiration, it has become a vital facet of my concentration. I am very happy with how my abilities have improved along with my concentration, and I hope you all enjoy this portrait of Pluto - God of the Underworld and Riches - as much as I do.
HOW TO TIE YOUR SHOES — SABRINA LIPP ‘23
I originally wrote this piece as an assignment for my creative writing class to describe a simple activity that could serve as a metaphor for something else. I wrote about tying my shoes, representing patterns that I've fallen into that continue to hurt me.