Grand Ridge student presents research at seventh annual Celebration of Scholars event

2017 May 2

Carthage College held the seventh annual Celebration of Scholars event on Friday, April 28, 2017. Celebration of Scholars is a poster exhibition that features original research, scholarship, and creative work completed by Carthage students.

James Durdan of Grand Ridge presented "Mi Carta de Amor y Esperanza al Pueblo de Guatemala ("My Letter of Love and Hope to the People of Guatemala")" at the event.

This is the project's abstract:

"This set of poetry was put together to demonstrate my love, respect, and hope for the people of Guatemala. I spent 25 days in this country and spent a lot of time with the people and was able to see their culture up close. My poetry relates to the historic Guatemalan tradition of fighting through adversity, valiant optimism, and the intense joy of living. Thus, the poetry seeks to capture the character, spirit, and hope of the Guatemalan people. All in all, the poems do not seek to relate to a generic tradition, but to an old tradition of perceiving and enjoying life. My opening poem, of Guatemalteco: El Pueblo (translation: Guatemalan: The People), describes the people of Guatemala and captures the character and personality of these people. Next, the poem Guatebuena, explores the desire of making Guatemala better and leaving behind its bloody and horrific civil war in the past. Promoting a Guatemalan idea of togetherness, it contains the tireless optimism that I saw in Guatemala. Together, we can create a Guatemala and a world that we are proud to call home. This is made clear with its title Guatebuena (in Spanish, buena means good and mala means bad) and the changing of the nation's name from Guatemala to Guatebuena in the poem symbolizes a bright future. Lastly, the poem Esperanza: Una Nota Para La Siguiente Generacion (translation: Hope: A Note For The Next Generation) is a message of sorts to the future generations of Guatemala. It instills a theme of hope that is evident in Guatemalan culure. Now, I invite you to read them with an easy side-by-side translation. ?Disfruta! (Translation: Enjoy!)"