Alice McIntyre

Hello! My name is Alice and I'm a student in Ciarán's English class, 9TM. I currently attend the highschool Hagley located in Christchurch New Zealand. I grew up here along with my brother dad and mum. My brother also attends Hagley. I am also Welsh on my dad's side and kiwi on my mum's side. Some important things to me are Art, my old cat Houdini, and as odd as it sounds, colour.

## Houdini

One of the most important things in the world to me is my old cat Houdini (or Dini for short). He was a beautiful tabby cat with a big appetite and a big heart. He was very loyal and never ran away from home, never scratched or bit anyone, never ripped any curtains, he was a well behaved feline.

The reasons as to why he's so important to me is too much to list. To put it simply, Houdini was always there for me and listened to all my problems and has been by my side since I was young.

This one time I came home crying after a bad day of school, I was so worn out and my mum was outside so I was the only one in the house. It's like he knows when I'm sad because he followed me to my room and ju

   mped up on my bed next to me. Although he may be a cat he's easy to talk to, so I rambled on and on about my day and how awful is was. He listened throughout all of it, never looked away from me, just sat there listening to me.

Perhaps it's the feeling of someone caring for me enough that they'll listen to me for a whole hour and comfort me while doing so, even if he was *just a cat* that doesn't mean he's any less important to me. Besides, it's easier to talk to a cat rather than a human in my opinion.

## Art

Something that is really important to me is art, art can be anywhere and anything, there's so many variations and imitations of art around the world.

The reasons why art is so important to me is because I've been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil, it was the only thing I would ever do. Art can help you cope with things going on around you, often other artists like to draw their feelings out on paper and it makes them feel better again. Art is a great way to express yourself.

Once I wasn’t feeling too well, mentally and physically, I just wanted to tell someone how I felt but I was way too scared to speak up. I got my drawing book and scribbled in it, I let out all of my anger and a

   fter drew something to represent how I felt. I gave the drawing to my friend and said it described how I felt and they helped me from there.

I think the reason why I'm so attached to art is because it was one of the first things I could do in my life, art is unique to the person making it because their art is linked to them, they made it, there's no other artwork like it. Every piece of art is one of a kind. Art can be weird looking but I believe each art piece has a meaning behind it that is special to the creator.

## Colour

This may sound like a silly statement but colour is important to me, there are many colours and each one can mean something different. Apparently humans can see around 10,000,000 shades of colours all together, yet we only stick to the simple five colours of the rainbow.

Colour is important to me because it has meaning, all colours can represent something, whether it's the rainbow on the pride flag or the red on the Welsh flag, every colour has a meaning and a purpose. Many people express themselves through colour. Take the Harajuku fashion for example, Harajuku is a street fashion most common in Japan, they wear colourful clothing and accessories that helps show others who they are. The fashion doesn't even have to be a colour blast, there are many variations of it. Let's say you like black and dark colours, that’s apart of Harajuku. Harajuku is expressing yourslef through colours you like.

Once I was scrolling around the Internet when I came across someone dressed in bizarre colours and clothing. Despite the cute look, it had a really deep meaning hidden underneath the bright fabric. I liked

   how it an important meaning. Because of that I realized it's okay to be who you are, you can express yourself in any way that you want. I admire that those people who do the street fashion are  brave enough to be themselves in front of a very judgmental world.

Maybe the reason why colour is important to me is because each one has a reason. I'm also inspired in the fashion because I like how they express who they are through the colours that they like. Whether it's black and red or pink and blue, each colour means something different to someone.