The Sanctuary

      School has been nothing but a disappointment.  With no friends, and teachers making my live miserable, I found myself lost in the world. I signed up for art class, hoping that it would be a place where I can finally be myself. Mr. Freeman is the art teacher. When class began, Mr. Freeman wrote the word "Soul" on the chalkboard. What had this meant? He then began a speech, about how you should express your feelings through art. Mr. Freeman was determined to convince us that he would be the one teaching us how to find our voice, our soul. In his perspective, he wasn`t going to teach us how to draw, he would help us discover the part of us that we don´t dare to look for. Mr. Freeman is a free spirit, devoted to art and children. At the beginning of class, he introduced the project we would be doing all year long. It consisted of us picking out a subject that we would draw all year long. We would need to sketch it, sculpt it, paper-mache it or carve it. Nevertheless, at the end of the year we would need to make the subject that we were assigned, express emotion, and speak to every person who looks at it. My subject was a tree. A tree? Trees are easy, even kindergarten kids can draw them. Why would Mr. Freeman assign us to draw such easy objects. In my class, Ivy, one of my ex-friends, was assigned clowns, which terrify her.  I figure she was assigned a difficult task. However, the assignment might help her overcome her fear of clowns.

     After some classes in art class, I figured it was my sanctuary. I feel safe in it. I enjoy art, I pay attention, it interests me, and there is no need to speak. My imagination is blocked though, this limits me from giving real emotion to my trees. All I've drawn are sad trees, almost dying. Where is my imagination? Will I be able to discover my voice? The part of me hidden, that I don`t dare to discover? Will it ever come out?