Olga's Poetry & Thoughts

My adolescence was unique. I went to an International Baccalaureate high school, but stayed clear of the advanced program. The main reason was because I hated math. I didn't see a point in it, it was stressful, and the sight of formulas and shapes made me squirm in revulsion. Many kids detest math, but my IB school prided itself in its advanced mathematics and science programs. There is nothing wrong with that. We need experts in STEM subjects in the world in order to progress modern society. However, all other aspects of academia, like literature and art (my two favourite hobbies) were cast into the shadows as useless and taboo subjects. Some of my classmates weren't that nice to me, either. As the editor-in-chief of the high school newspaper for an unprecedented two consecutive years, I did not make the "cool" list among my peers. Not because I was "geeky," but because I liked... liberal arts. I would get passing comments like, "have fun wor...

The rat race, it’s called In college it’s a plague All the rats gnawing at each other’s tails Trying to reach for the top They don’t sleep, they don’t stop Cause now it’s cool to be exhausted To boast the battle scars on our brains “Here is where I pulled 3 all nighters for an exam” “This mark here is where I failed and then cried” “There is where I went to Starbuck’s 10 times in one day and I still couldn’t get that homework done” Why are they proud of this? I’ll never know What drives the rats to mind pumping drugs But they don’t make you smarter, they Just make you dizzy and robotic and dazed The little pills make you feel less lazy So instead of going for a walk, or to church, or reading a book You can sit on your chair and digest information for days Swallow it whole, all the books, the LSATs Until you’re numbed by the excess of dictations You’re more like Google and less like a person A siphon f...

During my undergraduate degree at U of T, I was completely and desolately lost. I had no idea what I wanted from life, academically, spiritually, or career-wise. During my second year, I decided to do my double major in English and "Ethics, Society and Law" (a pseudo- "pre-law" program) because those topics were (and still are) my two passions. I aimed to go to law school because 1) I thought of myself as a social justice warrior, striving for equality for people of all genders and races and 2) lawyers get paid well. My two opposing motivations for going to law school ultimately wore me out, and I ended up selling my LSAT prep book. I didn't even take the test. My back-up plan: a Masters in Public Policy. I was selected by a supervising professor to do my undergraduate thesis (approx. 50 pages) about an obscure painting located in Siena's city hall, and how it relates to medieval Sienese politics. After all that hard work, and after presenting at a thesi...

Socrates: I know that I know nothing. While I was in high school, I didn't really think about life's big questions. I don't blame the school system for it- I was just not in that state of mind yet. Everything that I learned seemed to pass right through me. I didn't bother chewing the precious bits of life advice that were handed to me by my teachers. I simply devoured the information, and it remained in my stomach, undigested, only to be regurgitated on the final exam. Then once summer began, I forgot everything that I had learned. I remember looking at the clock, praying for class to end, hoping for the semester to finish, hoping that I could get out of high school and live in a world without detentions and compulsory math courses. Now I'm in university, majoring in the humanities. Everything that was taught to me during my four years in high school was revised, summarized, and dismissed during my first day of classes. Everything that I had known was erased. Ev...