The Avocado and Me

There's a poet I truly admire called Alex Elle. Her writing is quite contemporary, often focusing on self-love, growth, healing, and empowerment. It isn't full of abstract metaphors. It isn't too word-y. For the most part, her pieces are simple, but they resonate with people. They make you feel something. In my creative writing class this past year, my friends would often discuss what qualifies as poetry. Some prefer odes, villanelles, and longer forms of poetry that need time to create, marinate, and become something of substance. Others found beauty in a few well thought-out, carefully curated lines. Some said shorter, Rupi-Kaur-style works should not qualify as poetry. I understand what they meant, but I do not agree. Poetry, in my humble opinion, should make you feel something. That's the only qualification necessary. I've read long poems that fail at this, but I've also read short pieces that leave me feeling no different from before. Poetry can be spoke...

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about growing up. Summer 2019 has been a patchwork of show-tunes and dust clouds, dust everywhere, of hot afternoon rain, drumming on my roof, of paper wasps building a home outside my bedroom window. It has been long walks home and the ant hills lining the pavement. This summer tastes like undiluted matcha and smells like laying face down on the basement carpet. It's been a good one, I think. There are about four weeks until we get haircuts and bus passes. Four weeks of a slow sort of freedom.  When I stop and think about it, this is how my summers always are. Sleepy and too warm for anything more than old sheets. Often, they're spent alone, but occasionally, I'll catch a glance of an old friend underneath the grocery store florescent lights. I honestly don't mind. Of course I miss my friends. Of course it'd be nice to see more of them, or to play flashlight tag at 8 in the evening, when the sun is (miraculously) still up....

It's happened. Once again, my favorite month of the year has come to a close. Why is June the absolute best ever? Because it's that very first taste of summer vacation, a month full of morning sunshine and afternoon downpours. Anything can happen. To quote the posters of the highly anticipated Stranger Things season 3, "One summer can change everything." This is especially true when you're in your teen years -- independence is a newfound revelation, friendships are blossoming left and right, and the whole wide world is out there, waiting for you. It's terribly exciting. It's mildly terrifying. Additionally, I simply adore June thanks to the summer productions made possible by my local theatre company. This year, I had the pleasure of being in Legally Blonde: The Musical. Omigod, you guys, was it a blast! As we wave goodbye to the restfulness of June and turn to the hours of frantic summer homework July has to offer, I thought I'd share a few of my f...

...and it ain't even a real bamboo plant. Hey, everyone. I'm Maya - welcome back to The Avocado and Me.  Before we begin today's post, I want to take you all on a little road trip back to July 2nd, 2018. On this day in history, I drank a lot of iced chai tea while writing a blog post titled, "1,000 Page Views!" Let me tell you - I was so freaking excited to write that post. One-thousand views was a really big deal for this little speck of a teenage girl. I felt so accomplished, and so proud of how far The Avocado and Me  had come. Now, a little less than a year from July 2, 2018, there have been approximately 7,068 page views on this here blog. Everyone, we septupled the number of page views on The Avocado and Me  in less than a year. That is insane. I am so incredibly grateful for you, for the time you dedicate to reading my words, and for this journey we've gone on together. You mean the world to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And now, my loves,...