Briefly describe what you hope the next sixty years of your life will entail. Briefly summarize the ideal situation, the perfect combination of random events, the epitome of excellence, as you stand right now at seventeen years old. 

I am a person of serial passions. With each month comes a new obsession, a new cause, and a new idealized future. When I was six until I was thirteen, I dreamed of Harvard law school. In middle school I aspired to dance at the Conservatoire in Paris„ sing on broadway, paint the walls of San Francisco galleries, and now, on the standing on the brink of college, I realize that I am not a settler. I want to unearth change from hardened soil, I want to be a voice for silent women, I want to teach English literature at the University of Virginia, I want to be the editor-in-chief of American Girl Magazine, I want to be a PTA mom, a business executive, a graphic designer, a professional flutist, a film maker, a literary agent, the next great American author,  an admirable human being. 

Briefly describe your future goals: I wish to create.

So I have a built in floor-ceiling, wall to wall, shelving unit in my room, three of the shelves are dedicated to whatever 250 books I currently deem the most important to keep in my immediate reach (the other go into the downstairs library, my closet, my sisters’ rooms, etc. usually the downstairs library though).

I used to keep them alphabetized, but when I switched around my room, I took them out of order and never put them back and now I’m toying around with different ways to maybe organize them. 

I thought about doing it by color, because visually that would be awesome, however, I like authors to stick together and different version of the same book (I have like 8 copies of Catcher and 8 of Gatsby…)to be together as well.

Then I thought about region of the world, but I generally have American and some English, but not much else. Maybe coast to coast? 

I almost did it by main character’s first name, but this poses a problem to the books on my shelf that I’ve just purchased and have not read yet, or books where there are two very prominent characters. Also, this again doesn’t work with my “books of the same author need to be together” problem.

Maybe by publication year?
Genre? 

IDEAS?!

Yes, everyone needs someone who can’t let go of the past, throws extravagant parties in a vague attempt woo you, pays no attention or care to your marriage, encourages you to leave your current partner and delegitimizatizes the love you share with him. Everyone definitely needs a guy who treats you as the idea of who you once were, wastes his life staring at your house from across the water hoping you might care about him again, and indulges in materialism in a vain hope to impress you. 

Jay Gatsby. Perfect Boyfriend.

I have! I enjoyed it. I would recommend it if you are into the moral satire, 1984-esque books. However, there is plenty of violence (though it is not glorified), and it’s not for the sake of violence. The linguistics are fascinating, the philosophy is interesting, and the writing is just beautiful; it’s challenging, but satisfying.

We live in a world of content warnings and trigger warnings so that each of our thoughts can be pre-packaged and wrapped in bubble wrap to protect our soft hands from the sharp edges of serrated serifs. We have warped political correctness into an excuse for diluting opinions and calling it courtesy. And though there is certain validity in shying away from what can reopen scars and bruise healing skin, there is no excuse for shutting ears because disagreement causes discomfort. 

Discomfort is not synonymous with pain. 
Discomfort is productive. 

We can sit here and put band-aids on our blemished skin and wince when the lights flicker on in a dark room and we can tell ourselves that once we are in pain, we will always be in pain. But the truth is, we have numbed ourselves to the travesties of the world because they overwhelm us. We have become voluntarily blind and selectively deaf because numb is easier than discomfort.

Look the beast in the eye and fear not the trigger. 
That is how we pull change from this fear.

Alright, I know I haven’t been answering most of my inbox questions as of recent, however, I would like to briefly speak on this. 

Economically: 

I believe that minimum wage should be increased, a progressive tax structure to reduce tax inequality, universal health care, development of alternative energy, low-cost public higher education institutions, expand public schooling system, reduce class sizes and create new regulations for teachers, immigration reform so that illegal immigrants have a path to becoming legal, but all in all, I think that my economic stand point will develop as I begin to make my own salary and pay my own taxes.

Socially: 

I believe in equal opportunity for all people regardless of sex, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc., LGBT marriage and equality rights, pro-choice and reproductive rights for women as well as maintaining organizations such as Planned Parenthood who provide affordable birth control and breast cancer screenings, stem cell research, stricter gun control measures, the progression of equality for women, the halt of racial and religious profiling, decriminalization and monitoring of marijuana, the research and development needed to stop Global Warming and climate change, starting to operate apart from the church; If an argument is religious, it is not necessarily invalid, however, it has no place in the government. 

Yep. That’s it in short. I know not everyone will agree with me, and everyone has their own opinions as well as back stories that shape those opinions. There are items purposefully left off this list for various reasons, whether it is because I haven’t formulated an opinion or do not feel comfortable sharing it. 

More prom, because I’m obsessed.

Oh! Thank you so much!!!!! It was an amazing night and so quintessentially high school! asofafoh thank you!!!!

theparisreview:

Jim Shepard’s teaching copy of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find. 

Read our interview with the American writer and professor here.

Triumvirate. 
We got each other through high school as if we were a Judy Blume novel.

Senior Prom :)

May 4th, 2013
Meadowlark Gardens

My school doesn’t have valedictorian anymore, so they have honors graduate speaker, which is where anyone with above a 4.0 GPA can apply, and submit a speech. They narrow it down by blind reading to 3-5 (it was narrowed to 4 for us), and then the final four present it to administration and the class board, and then they decide. I could not be more thrilled, I have wanted this so badly for so long!!! It was some crazy competition in the final four, so I’m really proud that I received the honor!

So anyway, I’m the graduation speaker!!!!! AH!

I promise I’m still here and still writing. I’ve just been a little absent due to hell week for my last show + school stress + upcoming AP Week! I’ll be more active soon!

ribbonchild:

4doors:

Flower Series IV by deartomorrow on Flickr.