My Short Story!

I had a very busy weekend performing in my musical, and going Laser tagging for my beautiful friend Laura's birthday, so I apologize for this post's tardiness. 

This is the short story I wrote for my English Class. I really like it, and enjoyed writng it. This is my final draft, that has yet to be graded. Please read and enjoy! Leave comments if you please. 

P.S. This is Copyright material. 

Let It Be
© Kirin Taylor, 2013.

Lee, my psychiatrist, picks up her Beatles mug to take a sip of tea. Green tea seems to be her favorite. “Let It Be” is playing softly in the background. The Beatles seem to be her favorite too. Lee always tells me that music can help people to cope with stress, and it could maybe help my condition too.
“There will be an answer, let it be.”
I hope there’ll be an answer, that’s why I’m here right?
She places the cup back onto the worn wood coffee table, a little too hard.
It makes a CLANK sound.

CLANK
Mom slams down her beer on the table. The cheap drink sloshes everywhere, leaving a frothy mess on our already stained carpet. I don’t know what it is about Mondays, but my mom obviously can’t handle them. She’s stumbling around, knocking into our furniture, and tears are streaming down her flushed and frowning face.
“Your father left me stuck here with you two. So why do I have to be the saint? Why do I have to be the perfect parent?”
I can’t help thinking how far from perfect she is. All my memories of her consist of disappointment and booze. My brother Aaron is  standing next to me. He places a hand on my shoulder. He sometimes tells me I’m his rock, the only thing that keeps him going. I kinda like that.
“And look at you, not even listening to me. Ungrateful. Stupid. Worthless-” she trails off, looking nauseated.
I glance at Aaron, knowing he won’t stand for this much longer. He pushes his striped sleeves up, and grimaces at me. This is our routine, he’ll calm her down and carry her up to bed. It happens often enough, but how could I get used to something like that?
“You need to leave. You can’t stay here like this, can’t be a mother like this.” Aaron tells my mom seriously, as he offers a hand to steady her. His words surprise me. I realize that this time is different than the ones before.
He’s pushing her towards the door.
She can’t walk straight. She needs help. I open my mouth to tell him to just let her sober up and go to sleep, but it’s too late. She’s screaming again.
“You want me to go? I’ll go. I didn’t want you guys in my life from the start.” She’s backing out the door so fast, I can’t tell her I don’t feel that way. Would it even matter?
Aaron’s still shepherding her, and she’s still screaming at the top of her lungs, when she starts to trip and falls backwards down the cement steps...

“Kate. Kate? Can you hear me? You need to talk to me.”
“What?” I look up from my pale intertwined hands. They’re shaking. I push my curly messy hair out of my face, and notice how clammy I am. It was just a memory.
Lee is staring at me intently, “Did you have another episode? These were the symptoms I was telling you about. Perhaps if we try medication, Celexa or Paxil, we could make improvements. For the meantime I’ve been researching ways to help you cope. What you should do will relate to which sense the flashback's being triggered through. I’ve already told you about listening to music.”
Lee has told me so many “ways to cope” that neither of us can remember all of them, let alone put them into practice. I love music just as much as any other fifteen year old girl, but I think Lee is overstating it’s usefulness.
Lee sees I’m losing interest and switches gear, “let’s switch gears. Can you tell me more about your relationship with your parents?”.
I don’t want to think about it. I say, “No.”
“What happened with your dad is something you need to recognize as a factor in your mother’s behavior...”
Her words begin to blend into one another. I don’t want to think about either parent, who had disappointed me time after time while in my life, and still disappoint me in their absence. I wonder how Aaron is now. I wonder when he’ll come back to me.
“Kate. I want you to listen to me. Are you listening?”.
I don’t have time for her. For this over-concerned, good for nothing, crazy, mean,
“BITCH!”
I am suddenly screaming at her, pouring out any insults that I can think of, everything I’ve wanted to say in the past months of appointments, from all those times I had held my tongue. I am screaming. I am screaming about Aaron, about my dead mom, about my dad who used to hit us and yell at us and then just disappeared from our lives entirely, about my life, and about how she can’t help me. How no one can. I want to stop.
“Calm down. Please.” Lee is begging me.
“Let it be,” The Beatles implore me.
SLAM
The receptionist, Mel, rushes into the room, slamming the door against the wall.
What happened to privacy?

SLAM
The front door hits the wall, as Aaron pushes through to the front steps.
Concerned neighbors begin to gather around, asking question and making phone calls.
“Do you think she’s dead? What will the police do?” So many thoughts were fighting for primacy in my head.
Aaron leans down next to mom, checking for a pulse. “She’s not breathing. This is all my fault, if I had just let her...” he trails off.
I look up at my brother. My devilishly handsome brother. His face is crumpled in misery, his eyes are leaking salt water. He looks a mess. I reach out for him, hoping this would bring me comfort, me and him. My head is pounding, everything except his face becomes a blur.
WHEEE-ERRRR-WHEEE-ERRRR
The ambulance comes into view at the end of the street, red lights flashing, passing by the Anderson’s, the Bluneer’s, the McGann’s.
My throat constricts, like I was about to have those out of control sobs that only come with true pain. I finally told him, “It wasn’t your fault. She’s done this to herself.” I take his hand as medics rush out from the ambulance. He leads me away, helping both of us to avoid the inevitable glances at her broken body.
Aaron tries to reassure me. “It’ll be okay, Katie.”

“Kate. Kate? KATE!”
Except that wasn’t what happened next. The shouting didn’t come until the police tried to take Aaron in for questioning, leaving me alone in our house.
Lee looks worried  but composes herself quickly.
Lee tells me that It’ll get better. I think I believe her.

After my appointment I’m taken back to my foster home, which is really just my neighbors. The Trevelier’s are nice enough, but they are extremely religious and Mrs. Trevelier is the most girly woman you’d ever meet. In any case  I don’t know why it’s called “foster home.” It’s nothing like a home, and consists of none of the comforts I had known before.I doubt anywhere will feel like a home again without my brother there.

What happened still confuses me. No one’s told me the whole story, but I guess after the police questioned him it was clear he didn’t do anything to mom, but the police needed a background check and all of that. So they found out he was using, and now he’s in rehab, and I’m stuck with fosters.
I don’t know how much longer he’ll be there.
RING RING RING
Mrs. Trevelier’s cell phone’s ringing.
Just as mine did that night...

RING RING RING
“Is this Kate Britton?”
“Yes, who may I ask is calling”
“This is Officer Trolley from the PAPD. Your brother is going to have to stay with us”

I Don’t WANT to think about the past anymore. I need to stop. It’s possible to stop.
What was it that Lee said? Listen to music... I start singing to myself the first song I can think of, “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
RING RING RING
“Hello?” Mrs. Trevelier sing songs in her high pitched voice.
I can make out certain words from the other side of the phone. The woman seems disgruntled, “...is...emergency contact...”
“Yes this Martina” She’s trying to act casual, but can’t relax for her life. She doesn’t approve of my brother, and has told me many times “a dog can’t be taught new tricks.”
“...calling...Saint... inpatient...center....,” comes from the other end of the phone.
Mrs. Trevelier starts moving away from me, but I grab her arm and say “is it about Aaron? What’s going on?”
“Sweetie this is private phone call.”
I can hear the lady more clearly now, “released Sunday...over 18..willing?”
“I don’t think we’re interested” Mrs. Trevelier says, and with that she hangs up the phone.
I grab for it but my hands have become slick with sweat, and can’t grip it.
“What the hell did you do that for?”
I rush past all her crucifixes and frilly pillows onto the street, the same street that my mother’s body was taken down, the same street she died on. I’m running as fast as I can off this street full of terrible memories. I need to go to Saint something’s inpatient something center, and see Aaron.

The bus slows down, approaching  the bus stop, making a SCREECH noise.

SCREECH.

I sing to myself, “Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah let it be.”
It’s past the time of letting things go and letting things be. I want answers now.  

The End.

The Joy Gods Return!

I'm in Greenbelt's Winter Youth Musical, which opens next weekend.
Being in my 2nd year of winter musical has been really fun, and rewarding.  Our show is called "The Joy Gods Return" and is a post 9/11 romance.

The show was written by Chris Cherry, a very talented city of Greenbelt employee, who established a musical theatre camp there more than ten years ago. The show has a very large, and talented cast. 

What's so great about the show is that everyone is involved. Anyone who wanted to be in the production could, and that's a really unique thing in the theatre world. 

I really enjoy performing, and try to have as much fun as I can with it-as do my friends in the show. 

The message of the show is, what if we decided to fight terrpr with joy? 

The show has parts which are a show within a show, as the joy gods are returning to New York through a musical written by the main character, Felicity's deceased hurband Tom, who died in the 9/11 attacks. 

The production will be great, and it's only 5$! 

Show dates are: 

Saturday March 2nd at 2 and 7

and 

Saturday March 9th and 2 and 7

Gun Control

Last week I went to the Young Democrat's club meeting. They discussed gun control, which I've had to research for projects in the past, but now know much more about. 

There are a lot of things about this topic which should be adressed, but haven't. 

There's the fact that anybody can purchase a gun at a gun show, and not have to have a background check or register it, 

People, when authorized, can carry guns on them in public, which could easily lead to an accident. 

Of course, it isn't possible (as of now) to totally get rid of guns, but people's attitudes have gotten to be unreasonible. Those who are convinced that their 2nd ammendment rights mean that they can have as many guns as they like, and there shouldn't be any restrictions, are encouraging the misuse of guns and unruly ways of obtaining them. 

Since the terrible massacre at Sandy Hook, more attention has been brought to the topic. People have been expressing their views:

It's clear that there are many sides to the gun control argument, but what's most important is citizen's safety. Is it worth having guns, when thousands of people die per year from it?

For me, the answer is no. I recognize I don't have all the facts, but life is a gift and there's absolutely no reason for so many of them to be wasted. 

It's impoortant to remember there's  NO SUCH THING AS GUN CONTROL. 

You can't control others actions.

Even if someone's background check comes out fine, that doesn't mean they aren't a threat, or that other people who may have access to their gun aren't a threat. We can't control what the guns that are distributed are intended to do, or what they'll end up doing. 

To learn more about gun control click HERE!

raison d'être

A big part of the book my program just read, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, included Raison d'êtres or reasons to live. The main character Oskar, listed his reasons for living, which included his family, collecting stamps, and for the most part making people happy (protecting his mom, making his mom happy, and not hurting his grandmother's feelings.)  “I didn't want to hurt her feelings, because not hurting her feelings is another of my raisons d’etre” (100).

Reading this gave me the idea to list my Raison d'êtres, so that I can look back and see what's important to me. 

• Friends 
• Family 
• Spending time with my god mother
• Listening/seeing music
• art
• theatre
• The beach
• Grandpa's hunting camp
• creating
• volunteering
• Writing 
• Babysitting
• Reading

So that's pretty much it, although I'm sure there's more I can't think of, and there's more to come. 

It's important to remember that we do have reasons to live, and that we shouldn't forget them as we grow and change. 

Here's my favorite song from the ELAIC sound track: 

Here's the trailer: 

Silver Spring Video!

Hey everyone!
Our newest assignment for class was to film and edit a video about our community, which for us would be Silver Spring.
This video certainly had it's challenges. Laura and I had already picked an idea, and gone through with it (which included waking up at 5 A.M. to watch the sunrise). However, on Thursday we were told to do something else...still not entirely sure why.
So working with those 4 days we couldn't film Thursday or Friday because of  the snow, and ended up filming Saturday night. I edited most of it that night, when WeVideo crashed. I then spent Sunday doing it all over again, as well as having a 3 hour change project meeting (at my house), going out with my family, and doing work on my LFFP documentary. So that made for a busy weekend.

Here's my final product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4JJd16JIe8

I enjoyed the project, although doing it twice was time consuming and a little inconvenient to my weekend.
The camera work and audio aren't as good as they could be with an outdated camera,
and the website I edited on, WeVideo, wasn't  working well.
I do like the final outcome.
Hope you enjoy!

Happiness in Change

Something I've been wondering about lately, about myself, and about people in general  is; why do people seem happier being out of their normal environments?
This applies to going away for the the weekend, to a relative or friend's house,
people leaving their home/state for college,
having sleepovers,
going on vacations,
and just leaving when you're angry instead of staying put and working it out.

It just makes me insanely curious to know why people do this.
Is it the fight or flight response? 
When an animal feels threatened they respond by fleeing or fighting, could this apply?

I wonder, because I'm the type of person who doesn't like staying put. I don't want to be at home doing nothing. I don't want to be surrounded by the same people, despite if they're my family or not. I leave for the weekends, going to my god mother's house like this past one, or to my aunt's which I did the majority of the break, or to just my friends houses. I never miss a chance to go sleepover somewhere else or be somewhere else.
I don't know if that's just me. In fact i'm pretty sure it's not just me.
When I tried to research this topic, I got results completely unrelated.

The first 5 that appeared were:

1. 5 Stupid Habits You Develop Growing Up in a Broken Home

my comment on this... it's actually an interesting article. But I wouldn't say I'm from a broken home, or that that's related at all. What defines a broken home anyway?

2. Valium’s Contribution to Our New Normal

I don't even know what to say about this.

3.How to Find Lasting Love

Well thank you internet for this beautiful advice.

4. 21 Ways Rich People Think Differently

I found this article extremely thought provoking.
 I'm middle class, and I neither think poverty or riches are the root of evil. What is the root of evil? I'd say desire. This does relate back to status. Rich can usually have what material possessions they desire, but not necessarily the love, the feelings, the people or life style they desire. Poor can't necessarily have those things either, and can't have those material things as easily. 

I'll return to this subject in another post. 

5. Obama’s Way
This is so completely off topic.


One thing I did find was a quote, and I think it stands true. 

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”-Terry Pratchett 

I'll always still wonder, but I do like this quote. It makes sense. You want what you come back to to have adjusted and be better. 

Super Size Me- Documentary Review

Happy New Year to all!

So apparently this post has been lying in my drafts. It was supposed to be posted by December 19th, which is totally my fault.

Here we go,

This film was truly scary. I had seen Super Size Me before, in 7th grade science, but i wanted to see the effects of unhealthy eating-which many people in Blair, my community, or even family take a part in.

Here's the trailer:

The main Character of the documentary is Morgan Spurlock, an American adult who wanted to test the effect of fast food on people's bodies. This led Spurlock into independent film making. He chose to eat McDonald's fast food, every meal, for 30 days! 

The documentary does a play by play of his life, meal habits  and his health. After the 30 day period ends Spurlock is over 24 pounds heavier, and is at a much higher risk for heart disease, and heart failure. 

An interesting aspect of Super Sizer Me, is Spurlock's relationship with his girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson. She was constantly worried about his health, and as the doctors in the movie said, if he continued on with the fast food diet, he'd be on the path to death. Jamieson, who herself was a vegan, did not approve of the risks he was taking, After the 30 days ended, despite Spurlock's love of meat and craving for McDonald's, Jamieson was determined to make him healthy again and converted him to her vegan diet.

Another interesting aspect, was the cinematography. The camera was out of focus, shaky, and unprofessional for the entirety of the movie. However, it worked for it. This was just a normal guy making the film, and the camera's sloppiness didn't deteriorate the message of the movie. 

Thirdly, the graphs, charts, and animations showing Spurlock's change in health were very effective.  One animation showed the changes in his body from the first to 30th day. 

He gained 24.5 pounds, had a fatty liver etc. 

Here's a clip: 

I found this the most impressive and convincing part of the movie, because these were actual changes occurring in his body, proved by doctors  and medics, and definitely displaying how fast food is terrible for one's body. 

I really enjoyed this movie, it was humorous, informative, and shocking. when thinking about what Spurlock went through- I definitely want to cut back, or even cut out any fast food from my diet. I do recommend this movie, but only if you have a strong stomach (it gets gross in places).