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Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
KINY Juno Clifton was here. Good morning. Cassie Lumba joins us, who is a senior at Juno Douglas High School and competed in the Poetry Outloud national contest and was a national finalist, as a matter of fact. Cassie, good morning.
Speaker 2:Hi. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Congratulations on a couple of things. First of all, being a finalist for Poetry Outloud and, a graduating senior. Congratulations on both.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:How's it feel to be done school or at least this this segment of your life in school?
Speaker 2:I think it's a huge step to a new chapter, but I'm also really excited, not only to see where I go, but to see where all my friends go. I think everyone has really good aspirations, and I'm just, I guess, excited to, yes, head into the next chapter.
Speaker 1:Nice. And and what are those aspirations?
Speaker 2:For me, I'm planning to go into dentistry, and so I'm going to Anchorage for biology, and we'll see from there.
Speaker 1:Nice. Congratulations. And, graduation is on Sunday.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Right? And how does that feel heading into, you know, what what is closure of your high school life?
Speaker 2:I think it's been really hectic right now because there's just so many things we have to think about, like, regarding college, scholarships, all that jazz. But I also think it's really amazing because toward the end of the year, I feel like people let go of that sense of, like, being confined to a certain friend group, and I think people are talking more than they used to to other people. And I feel like we'll see that a lot, especially, like, during practice or at graduation where we'll just see a lot of people connect that you might not have thought you would connect to in the past because it's just sort of a time where you can, like, let go of feeling pressure because you're all just, you know, having fun.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about how social media plays a role in in your generation. Because I'll tell you, my my daughter who graduated a while ago and went to university, she seems to be, at at a point in her life where she's put social media aside, and she wants the personal human connection. What what are you finding with, with your peers?
Speaker 2:I think it's you know, we're at a point where social media is just you can't turn back. You know? It's everywhere. It's everywhere you go, and everyone's on it. But I think for me at least, I try not to put myself on social media as much.
Speaker 2:Like, I'm on it, but I also try not to make it my whole life, and I think that's an important thing. And I think a lot of my friends feel the same way, but I do see that social media has also become, you know, something that has brought on a lot of pressures especially for peers my age, you know, seeing other people doing such amazing things or maybe holding pressure within yourself to reach that standard that you see through posts or from other people across the country that are doing things at your age that you probably couldn't even fathom. And I think that's where it's important to step aside, to take a breath, and like your daughter, I think it's really great to take that step back because you have to realize that that's like a whole another world. And you have to focus on yourself, really. And so I think, yeah, social media has become insane, but I also think it's partly, like, understanding that that's not what is truly out there for you, and to look within yourself for that joy or those aspirations.
Speaker 1:Good for you. And I think you did that with with, entering Poetry Out Loud, a national contest, becoming a finalist. We're gonna play your performance from from that competition, and then we'll talk about it afterwards. Okay? Yes.
Speaker 3:I want to slay all the things, just things that they tell me I must do. I would drown them all in the tears I weep when each breathless day is through. I want to flee to a cool sand dune on a windswept beach where the humming tune of the wind and the waves and the heart of me drams in my ears, and my lips are wet with the tang of the sea. I want to feel the rain on my cheek. The thrill that comes from a lark's long note.
Speaker 3:I
Speaker 2:want
Speaker 3:to see the sky at dawn through the lacy green of a willow tree. I want to look deep in a pool at night and see the stars flash flame like the fire in black opals.
Speaker 1:That is Longings by Nelly Rathbone Brights and a performance by Cassie Lumba. Cassie, first of all, why did you pick that poem? What what was it about resonated with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think longings for me, when the way I read it, the way I interpreted it, was about a person. I was thinking about a woman who wanted to overcome the pressure and the standards that society put upon her and to just be free with things around her whether that's nature or like the poem says, feeling the breeze in her face or the rain on her cheek. I think it's about wanting to disconnect from what is trivial or superficial, of like social media Mhmm. All those pressures and instead doing your own thing and really just wanting to connect with things that are greater than you or things that hold more importance than silly things like likes on a post.
Speaker 2:You know? And so I think that's why I really chose it is because I think everyone in the audience could connect with a sense of longing to maybe not be at your nine to five or not be tied to something certain, but instead just find peace and joy in nature or in the simple experiences.
Speaker 1:What I find is how incredibly relevant the words of that poem are today
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Because it was published in 1927.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:How did you discover the poem?
Speaker 2:So for me, we were given, this year at least. I know in the past, there have been certain guidelines as to what poems you could choose, But because it's the two hundred fiftieth anniversary, of The United States, they let us sort of they gave us free rein to choose whatever poems we wanted. And so I was looking through the anthology, and for me, I wanted to choose poems. And I've told other people this that connected on the emotions of life. And so a lot of people at the national competition, amazing poems all about several different topics, whether it's like comedic poems or or political ones or women's suffrage.
Speaker 2:I wanted to do poems on emotions and life and how they all tie together in different ways. And so when I was looking through each and every poem, I wanted to find one that was very emotional and raw and that everyone could connect to. And so when I found longings, I thought that was just the perfect thing. I didn't I wasn't necessarily, like, searching for longings particularly. It just came up when I was scrolling through all the poems, and I was like, this is it.
Speaker 2:This is, the one. And I said that will be my first one because I think it sets the stage for these emotions that I was gonna present later on as well.
Speaker 1:Well, I gotta say you are an impressive human, and your performance was wonderful. Congratulations on being a finalist, and good luck in dentistry and have fun at the graduation.
Speaker 3:Thank you.