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by CaciquesKelly Duggan and Arben Ukperaj

Although yesterday was a normal day of classes, we learned something unique in literature class. As we were sitting there wondering what we were going to talk about, David Miller showed us how Omeros could relate to our lives here at The Island School and also, our lives in general. In the chapters we’ve read recently, Walcott took a break from the story and revealed some of himself to the reader. Then he completed this journey and went back to the story of Omeros. This related to our kayaking journeys as we took a three week break from our regular class schedule. I remember standing around our 6:30 am circle waiting for everyone to depart. Throughout these journeys, whether it be paddling for 6 hours a day, jumping 30 feet into blue holes, or spending 48 hours alone on a beach, we learned to test ourselves and find our physical and mental limits. Once we returned from these experiences, we joined together again around the 6:00 pm circle looking at our lives here with a different perspective. In Omeros, Walcott as the narrator, went to Europe and learned about himself, just how we went on our kayaking journeys to learn about ourselves. Then when we came back from our journeys, it was just as T.S. Elliot said, “we shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started… and know the place for the first time.”