Genius Hour Reflection: Post One

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First off, click here for a little PowToon that I created to help you understand how Genius Hour works!


Okay, still here?

When I was presented with the opportunity to dedicate an hour each week to learning anything I choose, it took a bit to settle onto a single idea. Do I want to give up using my car for a month to see how difficult it would be to get around Hamilton, sans voiture? Do I want to spend the time learning a bit of French so I'm no longer forced to rely on Google Translate, and so my father (a long-time French teacher) is no longer ashamed to call me "son"? Do I want to dedicate the time to chugging protein shakes and bench-pressing max reps every other day to see how many centimeters in chest circumference I can gain in a month? The options are Limitless.

In the end, I settled on the concept of Erasure Poetry, a form of poetry that has gained significant  traction since it came to be in 1965. More recently, it's been used to subvert official documents like the 9/11 Commission Report and President Trump's Inaugural Address. Excerpts from the erased 9/11 Commission, The O Mission Repo, are read in the video below. 



My goal is to explore the process of erasure through Hamilton Spectator articles. I'm eager to see if the poetic form can speak to some of the complexities and concerns about gentrification and revitalization in Hamilton. I'm calling it:


Check out the trailer for my project below:


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