[Witty]

NYC - First of all, I think you had a very unexpected take on the topic, in my eyes at least. The cliff climbing was something that would have been too much of an obvious choice to go for, but to combine it with the fact he was some musical prodigy being pushed into something he didn't really feel any love for instead of embracing his true love of rock climbing was a really interesting take on the topic that I don't think a lot of people, including myself, would have really seen in the picture. That's always the sign of a very good topical writer, not just writing to the topic but getting something out of the topic that isn't immediately visible at first sight, it shows great imagination and creativity. I think you could have taken this further, 10 or so more lines would have really fleshed this piece out, it seemed to end rather abruptly and I think there was more that could have been said, but what was there was masterfully crafted and well thought out, your wording was very good, there were maybe 2 or 3 instances where it was a little akward but nobody is perfect, and to have that few instances in a piece with such complex vocabulary and thought patterns is testament to your ability as a writer, I enjoyed this a lot.

YDK - First of all, I want to address the people saying this was not original, I believe this was a personal piece and I believe it came across as something that has been done before because it has, because it is a feeling that a lot of people share and can relate to in the world we live in, the struggle of raising a family and working your fingers to the bone to try and provide for them, so for people to say it was unoriginal I feel is quite unfair, there is never anything wrong with writing something that is relatable to many people, I believe that is a GREAT way to write...the point of writing is to convey emotion and to make people feel how you are feeling, so to write about something a lot of people feel in their life, in my opinion, is a very good direction to go in. We all live in the same world and there are things we all go through, moments in life that we all experience. The emotion was very real and it was the stand out theme in this piece. My main problem was that this was a topical battle, and I feel you didn't really address the picture enough in your piece, that can often be a drawback in writing personal pieces to a topic you did not pick yourself, it is hard to really write about yourself and stick to the topic at the same time, you came back to the pictue at the end of the piece and wrapped it up nicely, but I feel you neglected it too often in the verse.

All in all, a very good battle...I think if there was no topic and this was just a battle where you wrote whatever you wanted to a topic you thought of yourself, I might have voted for YDK based solely on the emotion of his verse and how real and relatable it was, NYC was the more accomplished writer in terms of technical ability, by which I mean imagery potrayed, the wording and the incredible use of vocab, but the emotion in YDK's was very raw which I always love. However this was a topical battle, and you have to write to the topic, and I think NYC did that superbly, with a really great idea, executed brilliantly, while YDK, for me, lost sight of the topic too often.

Gotta give it to TOTORO.