Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Continuing the journey: To school.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"-Nelson Mandela

I'm about to continue down "The Yellow Brick Road". No, not to see the wizard...but .to embark on a very important adventure, nonetheless. After sitting out of school this past semester, I'm FINALLY going back. I've been on quite the 'emotional roller coaster" since I've been away. I've lost friends, and gained some.  I've laughed, and cried. I've exerted my independence, and at times, felt powerless. I've reached the end of my rope, and thankfully decided to continue climbing a new "stronger" one. So, I must say that this break has proven itself to be a personal test of my strength, courage, and overall will to LIVE.

I am absolutely looking forward to learning how to perfect my craft and to deepen my appreciation for the works of the great writers that came before me (for those who don't know, I'm an English major.) Writing has been my love since I was very young. I discovered I had a talent for it when I had to  do a project for my 4th grade social studies class. The assignment was to come up with our own little "town" I think, and write about it. This excited me.

I  remember it like it was yesterday...as the teacher was explaining what she expected of us, my little mind started pondering. I was in my own universe at that moment. Ideas bouncing around in my head like a bouncy ball. I was so deep in thought that I saw my teacher's mouth moving but her voice became mute in my consciousness. A couple of short minutes later, I was smiling, I knew exactly what I was going to do, and how I was going to do it. I went home that night and began working. I unrolled the piece of white construction paper I was given and stared at it as if it were a map telling  me where to start. I knew I wanted to "wow" the class, do something unique and unexpected.

So, instead of drawing a picture, and coloring it with markers I gathered every color of sparkly nail polish I owned. I believe there were three colors total: Gold, Blue, and Silver. I wanted to paint my interpretation of what Heaven must be like. I began by painting on a sparkly Blue Sky, that held pillows of clouds that tasted like your favorite kind of ice cream; any flavor you wanted you could have. I explained this and other aspects of my " Perfect Heaven" in the piece of writing that would later accompany it. I also created special attractions in this little world of mine like, the "Angel Hair" river, in which strands of gold hair flowed freely throughout the land from the most beautiful angelic women you've ever laid your eyes upon.
When I was finally finished creating and writing all of this, I was exhausted but I knew that there was one more thing I needed before I could be satistfied with my work, the approval of my grandmother. I was such a perfectionist, and still am. I knew that if she liked something, I'd done my best. I let her read what I'd written,  she did so silently. I was secretly on pins and needles, she was so quiet and it scared me. Was it that bad? She finally looked up at me. I'll never forget the emotion that showed on her face, I was shocked because she'd never reacted to anything in that way before. "What's wrong?" I asked, I was pretty confident I'd done something wrong, until she responded... "Oh Ashley, this is just beautiful!" I couldn't believe it- She was crying..
From that day on, I knew that I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to make people feel things they'd never felt, I wanted to move people. I love the feeling that I get when people read something I've written and they ask me if they can keep it or share it with others. that's the best reward I could ever receive, knowing that I've touched someone or inspired an idea in the readers mind.  This is something I want to do for the rest of my life.
* I think the following song fits the theme of creativity.. It's one of my favorites by John Lennon. It's called, "Imagine".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM0Z75KEd_o

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