Very few experiences are worse than one in which your morals and beliefs are discredited because someone else finds them ignorant or unintelligent. I say this because the year is 2016, November is approaching, and political lines are not only firmly drawn, but there are also walls built with armor protecting their respective armies. For some reason, people choose to make elections a partisan issue, and they think someone voting for the opposing party hates them simply for their partisan stances. Any time my political beliefs have been discredited, I stop and think: Has this person even thought about how my ideologies originated? I am tired of trying to defend a candidate. I am tired of trying to explain why hateful characters are, indeed, hateful. I am tired of hateful rhetoric and outrageous ideas filled with discrimination. I am tired of trying to explain the importance of voting for love and acceptance rather than hate and exile. I do not support liberal candidates simply because I hate conservative politicians and those who vote for these conservative politicians. I support liberal candidates because of their firm beliefs and how they coincidentally align with mine. Side note: Liberal is not a dirty word. I do not take offense to it. Anyone who does identify as a liberal person will never be offended. My political ideologies did not precede my beliefs. Instead, I knew my beliefs, I held firmly to them, and then, one day, I discovered the world of politics. From the year I was able to vote and up until now, I have never once changed my morals because of a political surge. I should not have to sacrifice this part of myself. Instead, I simply choose to vote for those who share my morals and my beliefs system. Why I Vote Blue: I do not vote blue because I hate people with money. I vote blue because I grew up in Smalltown America in which lower income families multiply and their homes crumble. I do not vote blue because I hate religion. I vote blue because I believe in religious freedom for ALL—not only for a select few. I vote blue because I not only believe in equality, but I believe in justice for all—despite any physical or mental differential characteristic. I do not vote blue because I hate babies. I vote blue because I believe in a woman’s right to choose how to handle her own body. I do not discriminate people who sign DNRs or choose to handle their bodies in other manners, and I expect for women who make this extremely difficult decision to receive the same respect. I do not vote blue because I hate tradition. I vote blue because I believe in innovation and refurbishing the wonderful country in which we live. We possess a plethora of opportunities, and I think we should fully take advantage of them. I do not vote blue because I hate America. I vote blue because we each stem from people who fled their own countries and chose to become immigrants in search of a better place. We now live in this better place, and we should be able to accept people who acknowledge this freedom. I do not vote blue because I am ignorant to crime and addiction. I vote blue because I have seen firsthand how addiction can completely obliterate a family. It should be treated as an ailment rather than something to live with for the rest of their lives. Once these individuals fulfill their punishments, they should be able to receive treatment and aid in order to live healthy and successful lives. We all make mistakes, and we all should receive the opportunity to learn from our mistakes rather than live with stained records. I hold on to my political ideologies because they intertwine with my beliefs and my morals. I’ve seen the pain caused by those who remain oblivious to the suffering, the poor, the ill, and the forgotten. If we could all extend a hand in order to help these individuals, maybe we would forget the hate and instead remember how to let in the grace of love.
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As I sit in my bed with my morning tea, Karma Brown’s novel Come Away with Me, and the constant mind chatter telling me I need to pack for my upcoming weekend move, I cannot help but feel a bit of sadness for the end of the recent Midwest Writers Workshop. I realize I will soon enter classrooms and fulfill nightly homework or other obligations, but I will be without these people and this magic for at least a year. MWW encouraged me to meet as many people as I could within one short weekend, it brought me closer to my classmates and MWW staff, and it helped me realize what I truly would love to pursue once I graduate: becoming a literary agent. Before the conference, I had no idea I would laugh as much as I did, and I had no idea I would end up sitting on trashcans with my fellow agent assistants because we deemed ourselves “garbage” for being menial interns surrounded by a ballroom full of greatness. Needless to say, we frequently found ourselves with red faces and little breath left from relentless laughter. Not only did I laugh more than I thought I would, but I also learned more than I ever would have by simply taking a classroom on editing, publishing, or agent-ing. As agent assistants, we were right in the middle of the process. Nervous writers shook my hand as I led them into the pitch room, and most of them shuffled out before I could even wish them a wonderful day. What was the best part of the process, though? Seeing the look on these writers’ faces when I found them later and congratulated them because they were asked to send their full manuscripts, and not many other writers were even asked to do so. As their faces completely radiated, I immediately knew I wanted to continue helping writers fulfill their dreams. This realization never would have taken place without the people with helped make this seemingly magical experience happen. Because of this, I honestly want to thank each of you. To Jama: Thank you for being a beam of light every day in the classroom and in the conference. You constantly encouraged and reassured us when we felt even a little unconfident about our work or abilities. Without you, none of this would have happened—quite literally. To Barb: Thank you for being such a wonderful person and for bouncing around the workshop to help with merchandise, planning, setting up, and for simply keeping smiles on our faces. Your endless love for everyone kept us going, and the workshop would not be the same without you. To Sarah: Thank you for being our Queen and helping us not completely mess anything up. I feel like I cannot thank you enough for it. To the entire MWW Staff: Thank you for the incessant hours you’ve put into the workshop and for guiding the interns when we needed assistance. This all was able to happen because of you, and each person was an integral part in making this year successful. We couldn’t have done it without you. To Gail: Thank you for constantly being an upbeat force not only during the workshop, but when you visited our class as well. I think I can speak for most of us when I say you inspired us to become the best literary citizens possible. My Goodreads profile will never be quite as noteworthy, but it’s a good goal. You do it all, and seeing you in action makes me want to persevere so I can one day be as successful as you in a multitude of different areas of my life. To Brent: Thank you for being the best agent I could have asked for during the workshop. I had never seen an agent in action, and watching how in-depth you went during your mere three-minute pitches was astounding. You have the ability to go with your instinct on whether or not a book will become successful, and I left the conference feeling inspired. Also, thank you for not running away when I was an awkward mess at the airport. Can I be you? To Jim, Lauren, Molly, Rachel, and Uwe: Thank you for coming to this conference and dedicating an immense amount of time not only to all of the aspiring writers, but to your assistants as well. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we each left the conference wanting to be you, and it was the greatest feeling. To J.R. and Kelsey: Thank you for putting everything into The Facing Project. It motivated me to help bring this project to Ball State because I feel as though many of the students are unaware of the harsh realities many other students face every day simply by trying to go to class. Your dedication and commitment is inspiring, I hope I can make the same impact one day. To Amy Reichert, Jen Malone, and Karma Brown: Thank you for not being completely freaked out by my admiration. You all bring wonderful stories to the world, and without your work, this conference and others around the country would not continue. Seeing how long it takes for your precious words to finally come to fruition is an inspiration, and it was an honor meeting all of you. I cannot wait to see the other great novels you write on bookshelves from coast-to-coast. And with that, I am mentally waving goodbye to each of you and the workshop until #MWW17. Jen Malone writes sweet and funny books about tweens and teens for readers of all ages. Her middle grade titles include At Your Service, the You're Invited series (co-written with Gail Nall), and The Sleepover, all with Simon & Schuster/Aladdin. Her Young Adult titles (with HarperCollins/HarperTeen) include Map to the Stars and Wanderlost. Jen's a former Hollywood movie executive who once spent a year traveling the world solo, met her husband on the highway (literally), and went into labor with her identical twins while on a rock star's tour bus. These days she saves the drama for her books. You can learn more about her and her titles at www.jenmalonewrites.com. Attention: If you haven’t read the book yet, there are plot spoilers throughout the discussion. Have you ever experienced with other genres or have you always been interested in teen writing? My first books are for 8-13 year olds. I didn’t start to seriously write fiction until my daughter who is now ten went to kindergarten a few years ago. She was starting to learn to read, and I decided one afternoon to write her a short story, and she can read it to me at bedtime. It would just be a fun thing we can share. I never intended to write anything longer or intended for it to be a career. It was literally supposed to be this two-hour story I was going to work on, and that obviously snowballed. Most of what I started writing initially was for her and her age group. Then as I started reading more and reading more about kid lit., that redirected me to YA Fiction, which I LOVE to read. Can you tell me a little bit about how you decided on the title Wanderlost? It was definitely a play on the word “wanderlust.” I definitely have it. I have this friend who makes jewelry, and he made me this ring that has “wanderlust” carved into it. But this character is the complete opposite of me. She doesn’t have any desire to leave home or do any type of traveling. The original title was This is So Not in the Brochure. My editor felt as though that was a little too young so when we were brainstorming other titles, we sat down and we made a list of travel words. [Wanderlust] kept coming up, and it just evolved from there. So you said Aubree is the complete opposite of you. Did any of your experiences as a teenager influence Aubree’s character? No, but really she is my sister. It’s really weird because my sister is almost four years younger than me, and she is finally reading it now. I was literally Elizabeth in the book. It very much evolved out of that, but as I started writing, she became her own person, and she wasn’t my sister anymore. Now, I’m really curious to see what my sister’s take on it is. As I was getting started, though, I definitely used her as a reference point. Maybe she’ll forgive me. How much did your solo trip around the world influence your writing in this novel? Completely. As opposed to her, I definitely had the desire to go, and I had the sense of adventure. When it came to it, and I was standing there in the airport, I definitely had that moment where I was like, “I’m not doing this. This is crazy.” Then when I landed, my first flight was from Baltimore where I grew up to San Diego, and my uncle was there so he met me. Then I had to get on another flight from there with him, and I kept saying, “I’m just going to get a flight home. I don’t think I can do this.” From there I flew to New Zealand. I remember landing in New Zealand and thinking, “What did I do?” The weird thing was on the flight to New Zealand, we had a four-hour layover in Hawaii, and there happened to be four other people who were college kids and my age. None of them knew each other, but we were all hanging out at the airport and we all were going to the same place so we started talking. By the time the flight landed, we had all planned to spend the next two weeks touring New Zealand together, which we did. One of them did a work-study there before so he knew people. We stayed at their houses the whole time, and they had dune buggies and took us spelunking. Out of loneliness, you reach out to people, and that experience shaped Aubree. It makes you really vulnerable, but also really approachable. I tried to focus on that aspect of travel that can be really magical. How did you decided to incorporate The Sound of Music into the plot? When I knew I wanted to write about this bus trip, I went to AAA, and I got brochures of senior citizen bus tours. I didn’t know how quickly they would move through Europe so I modeled the tour on an existing tour. When I saw Saalburg, I knew I wanted to do it because I did that same Sound of Music tour, and I loved it so much. It was just something that really stood out when I traveled there. What was your favorite part of the writing process? I cast my grandmother and great-grandmother as Mary and Emma, which are also their names. My favorite part was making them do things that, if they were still alive, they never would do. Taking them skinny-dipping was literally my favorite scene to write. I was like, “Sorry, guys. You’re stripping down now.” What was your least favorite? At the time, it was probably my least favorite, but now, it’s probably one of my favorites. My editor really pushed me to make the Elizabeth-Aubree storyline more—stronger, more present in the story. Initially I had Aubree sort of checking in with her, but there wasn’t a ton of confrontation between them. I found it really hard to delve into writing those scenes just because it was so much of my sister and I’s dynamic at that age—not anymore though because we are really close—but it was weird to write. Now I am glad she pushed me to write that because I feel that it’s a really important part of the story. If you could sit down with Aubree and give her one piece of advice, what would it be? JM: One piece at the start of the story or now? LC: Now. JM: Well, I guess I would say, “You have to hang on to Sam! Those guys just don’t come around in real life.” Other than that, I would have to think about it. Were there any directional changes in your novel during the writing process? What were they? Bringing the sisters’ relationship more to the forefront of the story. I had to also go back and edit out a lot of the details about the places. I found the facts really interesting, but I didn’t want that to overwhelm the story. That was a big thing I did in revisions. I wanted to make sure it was enough to give a flavor of the place, but not so much that you felt as though you were reading a travel guide. What are your thoughts on a sequel about Aubree’s solo trip? I try not to read too many of the reviews, but every so often people will tag me in a tweet, and then I have to click on it. It is funny to me how many people are saying in their reviews, “I wanted to see the wrap-up of her trip” or “I wanted to see her and Sam back in Ohio.” I would definitely do something like that, but I don’t know that it would be an entire book. I would maybe write a bonus scene. I think that would be kind of fun. She definitely has more growing to do, but I feel as though her growth ended in such a different place than where she started. I think it would be hard to have her have a similar amount of growth in another story. Join author Jen Malone on her first international journey filled with enticing experiences and an unexpected longing for a lustful romance in her newest novel, Wanderlost. Place yourself in the beginning of the novel with quirky and angsty Aubree at a graduation celebration with her class accompanied by a slew of forbidden alcoholic refreshments. A cop soon approaches the house with the intention of addressing a noise complaint, Elizabeth, Aubree’s older sister, answers to the door to cover her sister and her friend, but then the cop leaves with Elizabeth in handcuffs. For the sake of saving her sister’s political career, Aubree is sent on a European tour with Elizabeth’s application, Elizabeth’s passport, and a bus of senior citizens. While, at times, readers may wonder why Aubree seems unwilling to venture out of her comfort zone, her meal choices and honest unawareness of the world outside her realm of Midwestern living reminds the reader to take a trip back to life as a teenager. Even though teenagers may think they will remain protected by their parents, their realities are extremely different from the realities of adulthood. While avoiding revealing numerous accounts of fraud, Aubree pretends to be Elizabeth during the trip, and the plan seems to unfold flawlessly until she meets the trip owner’s handsome son, Sam. While this plot seems a tad bizarre, it aids in creating a humorous experience for Aubree. After being overcome with guilt, she begins to slowly tell Sam the truth while also attempting to conceal her identity. Playing dress-up for Elizabeth becomes difficult though when she realizes she enjoys being independent and adventurous, which were definitely not qualities she possessed before this well-planned but also unintended trip. Her thoughts on her summer in Europe changed from “I like things predictable and familiar and safe and easy” to “This place is magical. All of it.” Aubree’s growth brings a fresh insight to the reader about how harrowing circumstances might be the best way to realize your own strength and independence. The pacing of Aubree’s thought process encapsulates the thought process of a teenager nearing adulthood who wants to impress her family, but who also does not want to grow up quite yet. These conflicting thoughts keep the reader entertained as we gain insight on why she makes the decisions she does throughout the novel. It is through these scenarios in which we see Aubree’s remarkable growth. Before she left for her trip, Aubree had never even had a job or been out of her hometown. Now, she is in Europe, handling deranged sets of chaos, and even finding a seemingly perfect guy. Will she be able to balance handling her independence, perfecting her duties worthy enough for a good review from her boss for Elizabeth, and falling for Sam? Readers will become entranced when reading Aubree’s international tale. English majors receive tremendous flack for their ambiguous, hard skills-lacking, thought-provoking academic choices. We are told we will never be prepared for the workforce, we might as well become teachers, and our peers will probably see us in drive-thru windows while we hand their coffee and frappes to them through their swank car windows. While they button their shirts to their jugulars, recite scrawled messages from clients to their uninterested bosses, and slave away for hours for companies who only care about whether or not they make enough money for their overflowing pockets, English majors find careers they not only enjoy, but in which they also receive praise and adoration for their precise work. People ask, “What can you do with an English degree?” I ask, “What can't I do with an English degree?” The options are limitless. Not only are they limitless, but English majors do not possess any attachments to one specific occupational field. We spend four years honing our skills in writing, analytical thinking, communications, and perfecting core attributes crucial to any given work environment rather than honing our skills for distinct vocational trades. Once I have an English and Creative Writing degree, I can pursue great ambitions to attend law school, dabble in the world of editing and publishing, or even aid authors as a literary agent in getting their work published. While I cannot attend medical school or other related specialities, I do not fret because I do not have any interest in pursuing those fields anyway. With my degree, I can create a colorful resume and life. When I become frail and less agile, I can reminisce on times when I worked in a field because I not only loved it, but because I was also successful. If you ever raise a child who chooses to pursue a major in English or in a related field, please do not fret. It is not a crisis, nor will this person reach a time when options diminish for future careers. A major in English is for those who choose not to limit themselves. Instead, a major in English is for those who choose to believe they can not only explore the world and all of its possibilities, but they can also change the world with the help of the written word. As someone who has remained relatively active on social media on all platforms ranging from MSN Instant Messenger to MySpace to Facebook to Twitter and then to Instagram, I have always loved to interact with people I know. What I had not realized until my course this summer in which other students and I help make the Midwest Writers Workshop happen, though, was the importance of wholly immersing yourself into communities filled with those who also possess your interests and who remain active in pursuing, bettering, and encouraging others to participate in those interests. When my newsfeeds on various social media outlets are filled with people I went to high school with, family, and the occasional person I befriended either on vacation or through an internship, my newsfeeds begin to lose both focus and purpose. When our lives also begin to lose these two imperative assets, we can fall victim to losing our paths, which will then possibly lead to a loss of identity. During free time I used to spend on social media, I realized how much negativity I exposed myself to and how damaging this truly was for me. I sometimes felt misunderstood, different from my peers, and as though I did not necessarily fit in with any specific interest group. While I did have a slight idea this had happened, I had not actually accepted it until my first meeting with the aforementioned summer class's interns and director, Jama Bigger. How did I fix this unruly sense of negativity? First, I deleted my Twitter account. It was not anything personal toward people I followed, but, rather, it was something I knew I had to do for myself. I needed positivity and belonging in an aspect of my life in which I felt as though I was not only welcomed, but in which I also felt as though I was encouraged to pursue my ambitions. I took this opportunity to divulge myself in a social media cleanse. Even though I quickly began to rebuild my Twitter account, I assured myself I would have a focus: I needed a literary community in which I could build both personal and professional connections. While I still do follow my close friends and others who also use social media to spread positivity, my Twitter account now has a clear focus. I can talk with others about novels, share information about what I read (such as the novel to the left, which was a wonderful YA read, and it seemed to fulfill my wanderlust needs even if only for a short while), fangirl over authors and the Midwest Writers Workshop, and share both positive and funny quotes and memes about reading and writing. Before my social media cleanse, I felt as though I was trying to butcher through leaves and trees in the middle of a dense forest even though I was simply only scrolling through my Twitter feed. Now, though, I can see a clear path. Even though it still might be a little rough, I can share my travels along this literary journey with my fellow literary citizens without a worry of getting lost along the way. Our lives are similar to puzzles. We have a multitude of different aspects within our lives, and we possess the responsibility to somehow place them in the correct sections of our lives in order to achieve an optimal balance between happiness and sacrifice. For some reason though, some individuals seem to think we must sacrifice our current happiness in order to eventually achieve lifelong euphoria. While in some scenarios this is the responsible approach to take, it is not the only approach.
I'm here to tell you why. I used to be in a rough place in life in which I tried to make everyone around myself happy. This ranged from sacrificing all of my free time to visit others and leaving little space for personal time to trying to adapt to new ways of living in order to feel accepted. I began spending all of my time with someone who tried to form me into a new person, which then led to a complete loss of self. It is human nature to believe we will receive good karma if we constantly place others above ourselves, but this actually might be the highest false claim one can make. Once I realized my downfall a little over one year ago, I took the responsibility of surrounding myself with good energy and eliminating the negative energy. The latter seemed to cloathe my lifestyle and bask my being in thoughts of needing to live up to others' expectations. During this transformation, I found the courage to imprint myself with a statement I had wanted for quite some time: ellipsis. Three simple dots. In writing, one can place ellipsis ( . . . ) in a place in which a section of a sentence or paragraph is not needed. For example, let's say a paragraph of a book says, "Some people believe in their dreams and others do not, and those who believe in theirs will succeed." If you were to paraphrase the sentence with ellipsis, you could say, "Some people believe in their dreams, and . . . [they] will succeed." Essentially, I want to live in such a way in which I can eliminate the unnecessary while still remaining true to myself. By eliminating the unnecessary negativity, I can lead a positive lifestyle consistently filled with happy moments every day rather than live a lifestyle in which I am constantly searching for happiness. Good energy will surround you if you remain in the mindset of forbidding negative energy to consume yourself. When I begin to wonder why others possess an unnatural resentment toward myself, others, or life in general, I can look at my ellipsis and take a deep breath knowing I have control of my mindset. Positive living is solely based on one's mindset, and by understanding you are the sole controller of your personal mindset, positive energy should begin to surround you once you start the process of ridding yourself of everything except the bare necessities. Essentially, focus on the good vibes. They are wonderful for the soul. “What is your major?”
“I’m studying English and Creative Writing.” “I’m sorry. Are you going to be a teacher?” “No.” “Then what are you going to do with it?” Unfortunately, this is how most of my conversations go when people ask how I spend my time at my university. Rather than being excited or intrigued when someone, such as myself, is studying an abstract subject, people tend to seem confused as though it is highly improbable I will ever find a career in this area of study. It is as though just because I do not receive training in a medical, scientific, or engineering field, I will resort to failure, and then succumb to working a menial job without benefits or a salary. Well, this is where the latter point differs from the stereotypical idea of the English major. You see, even though my major is not designed for specific careers, I possess the ability to completely mold my future career. Let’s create a physical model so you know exactly what I mean. Place your palms and fingertips together as though they are in a praying motion. Now, interlock your fingers. In almost every other major, this is how content area and careers align. In classes, you specifically learn how to do what you will eventually accomplish in your future places of employment. Now, let’s move on to the English major: Place your hands in the same praying motion. Now, rotate your left hand slightly forward and your right hand slightly back. Do you see how you can longer intertwine your fingers? The goal of the English major is to shift them back to their original position so the fingers can interlock. We learn an array of what we call “soft skills.” They are the skills we learn in order to become successful writers, communicators, thinkers, and people. We learn the different ideologies the great thinkers of the past taught us, and we learn how to apply them to our everyday lives. We can become innate teachers, professors, writers, journalists, lawyers, philosophers, speakers, explorers, thinkers, and doers. We are the people who took the “You can become anything you want” lesson literally when we were mere five-year-olds. We threw aside the stereotypical college career path, and we decided to mold our own because we realized the system could not alone help us. We realized we needed to become our own people, saviors, and believers because we did not want to be another product of the system. Those who do choose to pursue majors in which they receive specific training chose those paths in the same way we chose ours. They enjoy the methodical and explained approach, while we realized we would not benefit in those fields. In the same way, those souls venturing into the world of well-crafted careers specific for their majors would not benefit from pursuing our chosen area of study. Within my major, I have met people from all walks of life, and we tend to understand each other and our different backgrounds. Some people grew up with loving families, while others did not. Some people have known since they were in elementary school they wanted to be writers, and others are simply just now realizing this fact because they tried too long to ignore the burn within their chest taking them to the alter to declare a lifelong responsibility to hone their crafts. We struggle with commitment to career choices because, really, we all love the written word. We possess the ability to create. We understand we need to transform our desires into physical beings held softly within our hands. Words possess the power to transform sadness into belonging, and we all want to be an aid to resolving the conflict others may feel. English majors want to do more than write in our notebooks. We want to teach everyone words do have the power to heal and comfort. While we write to understand situations, others take words in order to make sense of situations happening they may not understand. Addiction may confiscate their lives or happiness may try to hide, but by reading even a simple sentence, they might be able to change their world. Wars are waging around the world, but words may be the only magic strong enough to heal. Next time you doubt the future of a current English major, stop yourself. What are you doing for the world with your career path? Our tool belts may be just as equipped as yours. Prelude
It is unknowing. Most of us hope to experience a great love to last the rest of our lives, but none of us really know if we will find it. We might think we have it, only to find out how fragile it falls alongside the not-quite-finished school project still warm with glue, or maybe it falls between our fingers with a donut’s powder. Our moment to find it might be sparse, a moment falling too short of a Popsicle’s lifespan in the hands of a child in the sand. Have we found it? We may not know. We might not realize it until the glue hardens, the powder stops falling, and the Popsicle has long been melted. It may be standing in front, behind, or beside us, holding out its hand and eager to continue this seemingly eternal flame. The Main Event Our eyes, minds, awareness were blinded by the light. We started the fire with a single match, a single moment, a single breath. It burned hot–almost too hot at first. We could feel the heat intensifying as we carefully approached it and allowed it to radiate upon our fragile skin. Once we realized we could stand before it without receiving a burn, though, we danced. We danced around it while our hands intertwined, interlaced with naivety and unaware of the harm gently lying before us. The Climax Laughter arose higher than the smoke climbing toward the stars–evidence of lives much greater than ours. We can imagine ourselves looking down upon this scene and gaze at its deep simplicity. Was it ever truly simple, though? We dreamed of lives in which we hoped to live, but we remained ever unaware of the actualities of our trances engulfed with ecstasy: Happiness never greeted them in their ends. Death, instead, approached them. Its scythe sharpened as if preparing for the ultimate dividing cut. Once the flames died–as they tend to do–and the smoke clothed us in its suffocating warmth, we stole the scythe in order to poke and prod the dying remnants of past happiness. Eventually, we unearth the flames, and we welcome them while they emit their magical brilliance, their comforting embrace, and their desire to wrap around us until our last breaths. The Great Demise What, then, do we do when these flames cause our last breaths? How do we face the great demise of what we thought was an eternal flame? What happens, when amidst the smoke, it is us who creates the divide with a single swift move of the scythe? We find ourselves overwhelmed by the all-consuming smoke, while it buries itself deep within our throats and attaches itself to the walls of our lungs. Discomfort turns into the coughing up of poisonous smoke while our bodies try to fight the toxins. We try to reattach ourselves, but the damage has been done. Separation increases the anxiety. Coughing then turns into an act of trying to stifle the obvious distress. We cannot let those around us realize our departure after our seemingly blissful dance around the flames. They always knew we would get too close and become too entranced by the flames dancing alongside us, burning within us. They knew it would cause our great departure–our grand escape. Coughing never ceases. Pain only increases. Arrays of medicine can sooth the sting and attempt to heal the wound, but only for a short while until we realize what made us dance also made us perish alongside the sticky puddle of Popsicle flesh surrounding our feet. “People want to hear songs with the words they’re afraid to say.” - Peyton Sawyer, One Tree Hill What do you do when you read novels every day about situations you only find within pages, but then you are forced to face someone, and you cannot even say one word? It is as though words never existed. You ponder what you should say versus what you should not say, but then, at the end of the day, maybe you think it is better to have never said anything at all.
We live in a world where people constantly face fear. We face those we love when they realize they do not love us anymore, and we face our futures crumbling beneath our feat. Maybe, though, the ends of what we thought were the most important parts of our lives were really just life’s way of giving us a second chance–a second chance at success, at education, at love, or even at acceptance. When we put our favorite songs on loops and tune out the rest of the world, maybe we are not simply listening to them over and over again for the sake of the beat or because we like how the music sounds in comparison to the voices in our heads, but maybe we are listening to them because we like the company of how someone else is saying everything we want to say. When we are in a world where we constantly have a grip on everything and everyone around us because we want to be the sole proprietors of our respective destinies, we sometimes need to let go of the reigns and pass them over to someone else. Who we are when we face challenges does not necessarily craft our personas or lay out how the rest of our lives will unfold, but how we handle them does. For one moment in time, we can loosen our grips and allow the sound of the lyrics to help us understand the hows and whys of life’s greatest mysteries. Until we learn how to bask in the moonlight of the voice of someone else, though, we may not necessarily ever comprehend how to overcome our obstacles. Sometimes, it takes the courage of someone else and a priceless gift of bravery to instill in us our own courage to gather ourselves and move on. |
AuthorLauren is a Ball State University alumna with a Bachelor's degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. She enjoys breakfast for dinner with a side of literary enjoyment. Archives
December 2017
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