Partnership with Hillcrest, Ottawa

Dear Charlie,

First of all here is the link to our partners' school:
http://www.hillcresths.ocdsb.ca/

I'm sorry you could make it to the videochat with our Canadian partners.
 Amina, Judith , Julia, Lisa, Nathan, Quentin, Salomé and Tiphaine did.
Thank you guys for taking the time to interact with our partners from school (Sorry I could not make the video work on my cell phone ;) or from home even though class was over.

The interaction on Edmodo was great.  The students were definitely up to the challenges.
I was really impressed by their creative writing.
Below are the works selected by the students  to represent the creative writing challenge:

The place I was in was packed with people. We could not make any movement. Everybody was pushing each other to come quicker in this special place. Everybody was rushing to give his ticket the fastest. I was smothering. I gave my ticket as I was told to go on the left. I was trying to walk to reach the place I was told. As I did, I took a deep breath closing my eyes. Almost everybody had already given their ticket. The exaltation was increasing. Every second seemed to be hours. We were all waiting. People were shaking of excitement. Some men were trying to calm the crazy crowd, in vain.

That is when names started to be announced. Impatient, I watched them come forward. Terribly tall, they were showing their tight faces with horrid additions. It is with abhorrence that I was watching this freak show that was progressing in front of my astonished eyes. Spotlights were on them for people to only look at them. With their frozen faces, vivid and piercing eyes, they were watching the audience that had gone insane. The audience was crazy of excitement. People were shouting and yelling at these monsters some inaudible words. They were wagging, stretching their arms in a disarticulated way, hoping to touch the unattainable.

In my head, incomprehension was growing. I was completely lost. How could it be possible, to make such monsters? Horrified, I just ran away the further I could. If frightened me, making me wonder how people could like watching that. I had stupidly thought that pictures I had seen were fake, or that they were accentuating these awful characteristics. In horror I had ran away from somewhere everybody wanted to be…So that was it, the Red Carpet…

Who’s right?

I was so lost in many different ways.

I was somewhere and nowhere in the same time.

I was me and then I was nobody.

Every time I closed my eyes, I was gone and

suddenly I came back.

You probably think that I’m crazy, am I?

You’ll never know.

I was flying, I was invisible, I had power, I had

nothing and I had just my tears.

But what’s now? I was trying to fight but against

what? Against you? Love? Hate? People? Myself?

Why I’m still asking about stupid things when even

the simple questions are so complicated to answer.

You think I’m wrong? So can you tell why we are

here? In this strange world?

Is it true that you can love someone more than

yourself?

Tell me. Tell me the truth, tell me nothing or

everything.

People said it’s easy to love but harder to be

unloved.

I was there to love you, now you’re gone. Did you

love me back or not?

You may think that I was in love, that I’m writing

about my feelings. Are you sure?

Nothing is certain, life is unpredictable. Isn’t

it beautiful?

Complicated, this is how they called me.

Don’t believe what I say, what people say, we

always lie.

It’s rather die or live, am I right?

John was not different from the rest of his kind: He had an average size (for a mosquito), two wings, two eyes, six legs... His body was covered with microscopic scales and he also had two long antennae which looked very feathery, finally, he had a proboscis, the thing he used to feed himself... Pretty much the definition of every mosquitoes. Furthermore, John did not carry any kind of diseases, as a matter of fact, he almost never lived outside a house. Maybe you've seen him in your living room, he was the kind of mosquitoes that are active during daylight. John led his life as any other mosquitoes would have, he used to travel from the kitchen to the bathroom, hoping to catch a drop of water from a sink; or to fly around wherever he might had found light. But his troubles came when he had to eat, because our little friend feeds upon blood; and what was the main source of blood in the house? Yes, Humans. Sadly for him, John had one day the bad idea to bite one... He was not thinking of doing evil, he did that in order to survive, but it only led to his demise, as the Human simply crushed john, giving him a painful death.

The Human did not feel any kind of remorse taking this innocent life; but why would he? After all, it was only a mosquito..

From where I stood
I still not understood
The memories of my childhood.

As I fall
They looked so tall
But they were not at all

So I had to have my own back
As they seem to come to attack
But all I do is not to react.

The images began to feel heavy
The sounds were noisy
And I all do is to remain guilty.

To escape from this painful moment, I look outside my flat
And near the window where I sat
I came to the conclusion that

From where I stood
I still not understood
The memories of my childhood.

I scan the street in a glance. The streetlamps reveal the loneliness of the street. The pavement still wet from the afternoon's rain, is gleaming at their a yellowed light . I put on my respirator mask and my headphones, turn up the volume and as the guitar starts singing, I uncap one of my spray paint.  The first spray colors the bare wall, covering in bright red the dirt. As usual I feel my feet lift off the ground. It is like being thunderstruck. The lightnings are guiding my hand and I don't have to think too much about it, just to keep in mind the final result I want. Of course it would be slightly different but that also what I like. Drums are banging against my skull, I change color. My dark blue highlights the stars. I do not hear the caracteristic « psssht » of the spray because of the rythmic bass but I can feel it through my fingers, I get tireless, fearless, limitless. I like to imagine how many people will pass in front of my painting. I change once again of color for a pale orange. How many of them will pass by without seeing it. I follow the lines drawn in my mind with a matt grey. How many will feel something looking at it. I scatter light blue drifts of paint. And how many wil forget it. I finalize with a large black marker. How many ? I have lost the count. Now I may go. I do not sign. I never sign. I like to think that they could have been done by anybody, that they are not mine. I disappear in the night and I leave it behind me, for the others.

Black Love

I saw the stars in your eyes

You were looking at me with those two tiny universe

My hand touched yours as we were eating

Then I carried you to the nest of the little birds

You lied on me, your head on my belly

As if you were trying to catch the millions of butterflies

dancing in it

As I touched you, you closed your eyes and began

purring.

I fell asleep, my fingers running in your sweet

black hair

I woke up and you weren't there

I searched for you for what seemed eternity

and then stopped.

I accepted it all, your dominant nature

                          your evasive hypocrisy

                          your sadistic playfulness

                          your wicked self

                   and your complete disregard of my person.

You could probably come home (if you ever even

considered the house your home) in a few days

after staying n the red lights of the sheets at night,

visiting other men.

Then I will wait for you, my love, my woman, my CAT.

To finish, here are the recommendations (by both St Charles and Hillcrest students) for  best film,  best song and best artworks 

BEST FILM:

BEST SONG

La dernière danse by Indila

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

BEST WORK OF ART

Ceci est une pipe by Magritte

 Any work by Bansky

Starry Night, Van Gogh

 

In the Wild North by Ivan Shishkin