What I Learned in South Africa
“Cape Town is a city of opposites… crowded yet empty, loud but filled with quiet moments. There is fear and apprehension in the streets, but hope and relentless optimism in the people. It lives in the waves of the oceans and the shadows of the mountains. It is African and European; young and old; new and forgotten; shining and rusty; and bichromatic and colorful, all at once.”
“Being a black woman on this campus has sucked for so long.”
Vegtable, Mineral, No More Animal
The Story of the 60 Most- Endangered Animals and the Increasing Range of Threats Against Them
“Six words or less to tell your life story…
"Six words or less to tell your life story…
Include every memory in your mind's inventory
"If only they saw me now," were the six words I chose
Yes, noncommittal and nostalgic but a nice, pleasant prose
It was later that I realized I can't share my storied life
It's still changing daily and always beating new strife
Trying to explain my mind would be in vain
For the minute I'd finish, I'd have to amend it
And add the present and all it contains
I’m challenged by old choices to love and respect
Despite knowing deep down I'm not even close to perfect
This rhyming is trying
To share what I care,
About, but also trying to frame
Who I have been, who I will be
And what combines my person and my name."
- Anika Kieler, October 2022
The Anthology of a Curio 