Eleanor Jumps in as Oakland International High School’s Mascot for National Poetry Month

By Guest Blogger, Eleanor, assisted by Sailaja Suresh, Principal,
Oakland International High School

Good day. My name is Eleanor. I am a cat. Just thought I’d state that up front.

I’m not your typical blogger. Riley and Lobo, lovely dogs that they are, have been blogging so enthusiastically about the poetry at their schools, I knew I had to represent my side of the Bay, in my own way, because the students at Oakland International High School are amazing poets.

Now, (since I’m not a dog) I’m not one to run excitedly in circles when I hear harmonious haikus, but while I fastidiously groom myself, I do love reading a good poem or two.

Every day, students at Oakland International are immersed in technology and each year, they talk about how and why technology is used around the world in their classes. Normally, I prefer playing with a good ball of yarn, but I am not opposed to chasing a laser dot around the wall for hours, so I can understand when students talk about how much fun and yet how addicting technology can be. I appreciate their perspectives.

I’ve seen the poems written this month about technology and they are amazing. I’ll blog about the winners next week, but for now, here’s a link to a short movie about technology made by Solomon Kamara, one of our amazing seniors, who is an award-winning filmmaker and bound for great things in this world. He also brings me catnip. I like catnip.

I’ll see you soon, poetry lovers.

Eleanor