calendar-icon

826CHI: My Home Adventures by Amelia B.

kid in classroom wearing orange shirt

With a knack for the fantastical and a deft ability to render broad strokes of her imagination into pockets of grab bag wisdom — “The twins clash like an eclipse” — fourth grader Amelia B.’s poetry offers us a brief but textured look into her many senses of home. Here, the Chicago resident and poet on the verge shares her poem, “My Home Adventures // Mis Aventuras Caseras” as part of our ongoing partnership with nonprofit organization 826CHI.

For over two years, Ace Hotel Chicago has worked with the org to give a platform to their students by throwing birthday parties, collaborating on zines together, hosting art shows and even featuring some of their books in our guest rooms. Each month, we highlight a poem from one of their students. 826CHI is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Their services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

My Home Adventures // Mis Aventuras Caseras by Amelia B., grade 4.

MY HOME ADVENTURES
The Five Senses of Home

To me, home means love, family, and joy. Home feels like an exciting adventure.
One day, it’s a quest to find mythical and legendary creatures. Some are white and gray, some have stripes and, for some strange reason, their names are Finna and Jack. The next day, it’s being a demigod of Poseidon, earth-shaker and Greek god of the sea. Three days before, it’s being a dinosaur. I’m purple and light green. I run in the fields where humble ones quake; I trot near the sea where water ones wake. I roar as loud as a lion and I smell like Muenster cheese. At noon, it’s being a Nightwing-Seawing hybrid, the most powerful dragon ever.

I’m lost in the adventures my own comic characters, Emodicon and Equinox,
have. Emodicon is a white blob and a light master. While Equinox is a black blob, and is the master of darkness. The twins clash like an eclipse.

I could even be a big potato, surviving hungry beings as famished as wolves. Some of them are nice, some are mean, some are tall, some are short and some, well, some are just crazy and weird. Adventures can be fearful or joyful, but most all to me, they are at home.


MIS AVENTURAS CASERAS
Los cinco sentidos del hogar

Para mi, el hogar significa amor, familia, y alegría. El hogar se siente como una aventura fantástica.
Un dia, es una misión para encontrar animales míticos y legendarios. Algunos son blancos y grises, algunos tienen líneas, y por alguna razón, son nombrados Finna y Jack. El día siguiente, es ser un semidiós de Poseidón, terremoto y dios Griego del mar. Tres días antes, es un ser dinosaurio. Soy morado y verde claro. Yo corro en los campos donde tiemblan los humildes; Yo trote cerca al mar donde los acuáticos se despiertan. Yo grito como un león, y tengo olor a queso Muenster. Al mediodía, es ser un híbrido de NightWing y Seawing, el dragón más poderoso.

Estoy perdido en los aventuras de mis caracteres de cómic, Emodicon y Equinox. Emodicon es un gota blanca y un maestro de luces. Mientras Equinox es un gota negra, y es maestro de oscuridad. Los dos gemelos luchan como un eclipse.

Yo aún podría ser un papa inmenso, sobreviviendo seres mas muriendo de hambre como lobos. Algunos son amables, otros son malos, algunos son altos, otros son cortos, y, bueno, algunos son locos y raros. Aventuras pueden ser terroríficos o alegres, pero la mayoría, para mi, son familiar.

Related Articles

Gabriele Tinti and Marton Csokas

Ace Hotel London | March 19, 2020

"Ruins" by Gabriele Tinti and Marton Csokas

Bodies, much like the people who house them, are vastly different. How we understand them, then, is largely dependent on how they’re shown to us. Photography — or the two-dimensional renderings we encounter upon first blush — introduce us to those bodies, but offer something else, too.

photo of kid at book store

2020-03-18 12:36:28

826CHI: Thankful by Franco L.

Eighth grader Franco L. reminds us of that golden kernel within, the one that burns steady and true in his poem titled "Thankful," as part of our ongoing partnership with nonprofit organization 826CHI.

Justin Strauss and another taking a selfie

Ace Hotel New York | March 5, 2020

Just/Talk: Justin Strauss with Bráulio Amado

Braulio Amado, designer & illustrator, chats with longtime Ace pal and legendary New York City DJ Justin Strauss for this edition of Just/Talk about bridging punk and electronic aesthetics, his mutant art space SSHH, experimental weirdness at Bloomberg Businessweek and what he would do with one trillion dollars tomorrow.