Overflow Self-Portrait Blog 2019

The Pagan                                                          Flash fiction                 You wake up, just like every day, and put on your hammer neckless, think about who will judge and bully. You are told your different, a huge mistake for being pagan. Many people will say your evil, others will ask why you’re not Christian? You’ll simply tell them Christianity doesn’t speak to you as Asatru spoke to you, you’ll add a little history behind the relationship between the pagans/heathens and Christians but only to be told “your wrong”. Your friends aren’t pagan, and neither is most the people you know, the only people that are pagan like you is ...

Self-Portrait Project Flash Fiction: Some people say that you’re kind, you just see it as looking outside your own perspective. You know that not all of your friends have been loyal and have talked behind your back, yet you defend them and you always make amends. You want to yell and scream because despite all of them being older than you, they’re the ones acting childish. You’re tired of the games and apologizing first when you know that deep down - you have nothing to be sorry for. He flakes, she blames you for her faults, and he chose his relationship over friendship - in the end they’re all the same.  They say that you’re their best friend and then as soon as something doesn’t go their way - well, you know what happens. But, you’re tired of being told you have no backbone because you’re “too nice”. Once upon a time, you being so nice was their favorite quality because they took advantage of your kindness. They took advantage of you. Artist Statement: I’m...

Ben Bjornsen Flash Fiction: I am broke, because #race car. Artist Statement: My self-portrait is about my spending all my money on my hobby which is cars. I got into cars from my grandpa when I was a little kid. I didn’t realize how expensive stuff is, so I have no more money. My picture is me on my car in the Kennedy  parking lot looking sad because I spent my money on my car. My car represents where all my money goes. I took it in the Kennedy  parking lot because i don't have a real job that pays well because I go to school. They Say/I Say: People think about bias as an argument   toward  what they believe in even if it doesn't  make sense or is wrong.  Also, some people think they aren’t bias in anyway, but really they are. People will want to be like this because if they are wrong about something, they will do whatever it takes to make you believe their bias not on purpose. But the truth is people do have a bias for something...

Smile and Pursue happiness, not negativity Artist statement I pick this image because this shows my personality and my mood during my everyday life. The image and text work together to show you that I like to be happy and positive and not be negative all the time. The color and brightness work together to represent positivity.  Reflection People don’t think about that they have a bias. They don’t think about that because they don’t react, and they don’t think about what there saying or what they think about a certain person. For example, When I was a kid, I thought people were always respectful and kind to others and I thought that no one had a bias. I thought this because people were always nice when I said hi to them. People always opened the door for me and they always said thank you. Nice but I realized growing up people have a certain bias. For example, in perspectives, the class taught me that everyone has a bias and that everyone’s bias is different from other people a...

It’s hard living as many lives as I do, but it gets easier over time. I start off the day by living off the life of a student at Kennedy who’s happy with everything in his life for my mother, so she has no reason to worry about my at all. Once I get on the bus I live out the life of someone who’s regret the lack of sleep they’ve gotten the past few years, barely able to stay awake. And then I’m at the school, where I live the life of someone who’s faking a smile because the others are faking a smile and nobody really wants to talk about everything that’s gone wrong for fear of breaking everything. All while I’m living out the life of a perfect friend who can provide advice to a distant online friend who’s nearly slain themselves in a burst of depression before. And at the end of the day I live the life of someone who pretends they have a damn clue how to do the assignments after school they were given. Finally, I get to live the life of someone who finally gets a chance to relax aft...

Competitor Flash Fiction: HDMH. DGAF. Throw Hard. Compete. You Never Know. Stay Passionate. Artist Statement: My image is of myself coming to a set position on the mound, as I would before throwing a pitch. This is meant to represent the way I look at obstacles in my life; take a deep breath, stare it down. Reflection: I believe that personality is shaped by a person’s surroundings and the people they associate with. What I learned about personality is that there are groups and names for someone’s personality, and Maslow’s theory of personality in which people change with their environment and can self improve.  In journal #4, my journal about personality, I said that my personality is “old school.” The reasons for my personality being described as old school fall on the fact that I like old music, old cars, and have a more traditional set of beliefs. These ideas and beliefs were ingrained into me at a relatively young age by my fath...

Youth is temporary, Art is permanent. Artist statement- this picture is supposed to be a drawing of me, more of a younger me because I'm almost an adult and ill continue to age but this drawing will forever be the same. Personality-  No one's personality is the same, we are not cookie cutter people, we aren't the same, everyone has unique personalities. Some may say that everyone personality is divided by there redeeming qualities, and although that is partially true, it doesn't just stop there, people are defined more than that. There traits as for example, "There a kind person" that isn't something that really pulls together their personality. Personality is something to do with everything all together, this person is kind, shy, they seem to get a bit nervous around strangers, they love to tell stories and talk. that's how to analyze someone's personality, something that helps some...

The Outdoors They say the outdoors is a certain place that only a few groups of people like. They also say that its like home. You underestimate what you can see outdoors and what there is to discover beyond the trees. Most people don’t understand what it’s like to be far away civilization and what it's like to be separated from everyone. Where the nearest cell signal is 20 or more miles away. Some people don’t get the chance to get beyond the city or travel out to a national park or an area with scenic view. Some people say they can’t afford it but most the time you only need simple items to make it out in the outdoors or wilderness. They say it comes with many dangers that can affect someone permanently as a person or if they are by themselves. Everything you do outside will either come with a consequence or a positive feature. You can only live once and doing somethings outdoors can kill you. They still say that technology is destroying our national parks and destroying ...

What are you listening to?   A large hall is illuminated by hundreds of lights and suddenly darkened revealing a silhouette. People are all gathered expecting a scene worth their time. The man awaits patiently for a red light in the distance to appear green; it does, it is time. He starts with great fury. As he plays, you’d think he is always angry the way he treats his instrument, but this is contradicted by the way his fingers move carefully and precisely across the strings. He is not afraid, but he senses disaster: one of his strings is broken but he continues to play, he is resilient and will not give up. He is passionate and careful. It is not over yet. What are you listening to? Is it the sound he is making with that $14,000 piece of wood, or is it the fire alarm that went off somewhere in the other building? Are you listening to the sound some of the chairs make when they are folded back, is it the piano that is also making sound with him? What about the chirp ...

Flash Fiction Don’t give up on yourself even when life is going down a dark path. Don’t let all the negative energy get the best of you, to the point you see no point in trying with anything anymore, and you just completely shut down. Don’t let stress and anxiety take control, you got this. You have to keep going, and moving forward because if you give up you will regret it, truly. Keep trying and trying, push yourself to be the best you can be because that's all you can do. Whenever life hits you with a bunch of bullshit, build off it. Don’t let it put you in the dark. Remember you are capable of getting through it because you know are strong. You know you will feel a big rush of relief once you overcome what you thought you couldn’t even compete with. You will feel yourself light up again. Don’t give up. Artist Statement Life can be hard at times, and it can really take a toll on your whole mindset. When everything that is coming at you  just begins to drown you in stress...

Flash Fiction Do you remember the day it happened? The day you walked into your house to find your brother gone? How no one bothered to tell you that at age 16 your brother decided to leave his 7 year old sister? How the one person you loved, the one person who cared for you, and kept you safe was gone? How your parents told you he never loved you and he wasn’t really your family? Do you remember how you fell into depression immediately after and nobody noticed? How about when you called out for help but the one person who listened to you could no longer hear you? What of the nightmares claiming your tears each night? How you made all the voices in your head threatening to pull you under go away by listening to music? How listening to music reminded you of him when he would play his instrument everyday, and is somehow calmed you down? How listening to music created a shield around you protecting you from reality? Where you could just forget about everything and everyone ar...

Taller Mountains to Climb Made it this far, not knowing what the world could bring. Authors Note: I chose this picture of me in Colorado because I believe that there is a deeper meaning than me just standing on a rock. I think the rock can represent a strong start, but you can see in the background of the picture that there are bigger rocks to climb. I think this can relate to my life because I am about to graduate, which can be compared to the rock I am standing on. On the other hand, I know that there are bigger rocks and a bigger meaning to life than just high school. Although high school is a good start there is always those “bigger rocks” or bigger problems that I must climb over. I decided to use a longer 6-word story because it also explains the type of personality I have. I like things short, sweet, and to the point. Taking the class perspectives has opened my view of the deeper meaning in small things and realizing that our personalities reflect the perspec...

Flash Fiction And Artist Statement               Why? Why did you hit the ball so hard? What would you expect to happen? Why didn’t you listen? If you would have listened you would’ve probably not regret it. You hit that ball so hard over the net that day you couldn’t believe it. You were doing so well, you scored your team a goal, it made you feel loved hearing your teammates cheer and your family cheer. But when you walked to that penalty spot and hit that ball over the net you didn’t feel love anymore. You blamed yourself. When your captain told you if you wanted to take the penalty you could have said no. You wanted to prove yourself because people look down on you but you just proved that your just a mess up. You thought everyone was disappointed in you. You cried after the game because this is the sport you love and have a passion for. You felt empty. You lost your confidence. Professional players miss penalties. Don’t worr...

Dishaun W Flash Fiction- Positive and negative, a very common thought process with people in America. Artist Statement- I chose black and white thinking as my topic because when I was younger my thought process was very negative. Each day that went by my thoughts had gotten worse, I never really had a sole purpose because I knew my situation wasn’t going to change. My situation at the time was being adopted by my aunt, it was very hard to get used to not seeing my mom every day when I came home from school.

Kennedy, Kirkwood, Kontroller, K-Nine, Kicking, Kleaning, Krazy, Kan’t keep up This picture was me trying to put everything I do in one picture. 6 things that i deal with a lot, all listed in my 10 work flash fiction above. Kennedy and kirkwood represented by the two backpacks, as I have a bag for each school. A soccer ball to show what sport I am deeply involved in. A controller in my hand, because I really enjoy playing games to kind of chill and break away from stress. My Texas roadhouse shirt to show here I work and where i am very much involved. Lastly my dog Indy, that i love and always comes to meet me at the door when I come from work or school or wherever. I also have headphones on as a representation of me trying to block out all the noise of all these things demand of me and it can sometimes be to much. As the treadmill represents me having to run  or “keep up” with these 6 things. The thing with starting all the words with k is kind of just random, it started ...

Being the best i can be Michael Lynch Flash fiction                 You want to be great at track and push yourself to be your best. You need to take the next step and keep pushing yourself, so you can strive to be a great runner. Pushing yourself in the weight room or on the track while sprinting is going to be very key to be the best runner that you want to be. You need to have a positive attitude about things you do, even if you lose at something, you got to pick yourself up and keep going. Positivity will help you in your races and in life in general, it’s a very great way to be. Also sticking to a healthy diet does very well help keep you energized and ready to put in the work you need to, so you perform your best in practice or races. It also helps you feel better during the day and you don’t feel super full and exhausted. Just all and all if you do the right things you will succeed at what you w...