Trying to fit in

I got an award last night, and today, I thought people would congratulate me. I thought some of my friends would come up to me and talk to me about it. But no. They did not.

I wish people knew more about me. I wish they knew that I am awesome, and I am talented, and I’m trying not to sound whiny, but I feel like people don’t really talk to me. And the friends that do know me spend a lot of time in the theatre office, so I feel like I don’t talk to anyone during the day. I know we have limited time in the halls because we’re trying to get to our classes on time.

Also, I don’t have any friends in my classes, and that is for two reasons: 1. I spent up till seventh grade at Bigelow, which is in the district, but then for 8th and 9th grade I went to Learning Prep, a school for people with language based learning disabilities, and then I came back to the district and repeated 9th grade at North. That switch put me in an awkward situation when it came to friends. I mean, Learning Prep was ok, because I made progress with my academics, but I was having trouble fitting in when I got back to the district.

Also, I made a poster in graphics and I hung it up the other day on Main Street, and I thought that would get me more attention. I mean, I don’t mean to sound like I’m being selfish and like i’m the only that matters, but i’m trying to get more people to recognize me, and people to not make me feel invisible, because that’s the way I feel now, at that’s not okay.

I must admit: i’m introverted. I’m maybe more introverted than most people, but we’re all trying to fit in, right? I’m trying to be more extroverted and talk to more people, but for example in the cafeteria, it’s too big and too crowded and it’s hard for me to find people to sit with. I’ll keep trying, but it’s hard.

I wish people would recognize me more. Of course they're not ignoring me, but I wish I could have more conversations with friends. Like hanging out after school, you know? But they will take time, unfortunately.

The power of a disability

A lot of people have challenges. And challenges mught come in all sorts of ways. But especially a theatre artist with a disability can get unrepresented. 

Tonight, I’ve heard stories of people with and without disabilities so I wanted to reflect on that.

These actors, educators and artists with disabilities all had obstacles they had to overcome. For example, EJ, a hard of hearing actor, has difficulty, when someone doesn’t have a visual cue, he misses his line. Because he is deaf, without any communication from the other actors on stage, it would be very difficult.

When you’ve never seen someone with a disability on stage, we need to ask ourselves why are we not casting people with disabilities? 

Also, people SHOULD have the opportunity to be able to be on the stage. They shouldn’t be marginalized. I keep saying this, but I think it’s really really important 

It’s important that we continue to have these conversations. It doesn’t stop tonight. If we keep pushing and pushing, we will open up a opportunity for people with disabilities in the arts. And I’m still young, so I have a world of opportunity ahead 

Inspire change in the disability community

There’s more we can do to inspire change in our community. Tonight’s book event helped me realize that.

I just came back from an understanding our differences book event, where an amazing, 14 year old girl talked about her book, Mia Lee is Wheeling through Middle School. It’s amazing that at 14 years old, she has already written a book.

She talked about the book and her own life expectancies, and I related to a lot of what she said. For example she doesn’t like when people judge her on her disability first. I feel the same way. When we judge people on their disability, 1. It makes them feel bad, and 2. We don’t really take the time to get to know them. 

The second thing she said that I think was important was that there is still more we can do. Because people will disabilities get marginalized half the time, they shouldn’t. They are just a normal human being on this earth, and they deserve the same amount of respect, and it’s really not fair that they are being marginalized just because of their differences.

There is still more we can do to help people with disabilities have an equal opportunity. I will not stop advocating for this issue, because I think it’s a very important issue.

Infinite possibilities.

The presentation at BU was very interesting. It was all about social media in our digital age. That is what I want to do later in life.

Social media is ever changing. There is so much that is evolving. In the very early days, when I wasn’t even alive, we didn’t even have Facebook. and now there is so much we can use it for. 

There is even more technology that I didn’t know about till today. I mean it’s amazing how far we’ve come

Creativity pushes the boundaries of technology. Without technology, there is no creativity. That’s why technology is at a vital point in our digital world. It’s how we communicate, work, play and learn.

Technology is ever changing in our society. There is so many ways we can use it. With the integration of science and math, it pushes the boundaries of what you can create. That opens up our imagination as what we can make. Infinite possibilities.

The power of culture.

Vibrant cites. Creative minds. A world of new opportunities for children to explore. This is the power of culture. 

The power of culture. Well, what is culture? Culture is the world we live in.

Take a look outside. The people walking up an down the street. The people stopping to ask questions. The Thinkers. The Creators. The Problem Solvers

Our city is rich with culture. All around us. Culture is.

Culture is unique.

Culture sparks our creativity

Culture is diverse.

Culture is inclusive.

Culture is important.

It helps up to live a better day. It helps us to raise questions about who we really are.

Inspiring a new generation to make our world even better.

Culture is how we communicate.

Culture helps foster creativity.

It helps us come up with new ideas.

New opportunities arise every day.

It is to explore the light of discovery 

We are innovators, coming up with 

New ideas. New possibilities.

New ideas for the future.

It is the chance to explore your imagination.

Play with these ideas where you are are still young. 

Let your mind wander beyond your wildest dreams.

Because once you get older, you wander no more.

Civilly

We must always practice civility. Civility is always the right thing to do. But we must ask ourselves: What is civility?

Civility is the act of being kind and being a good citizen. To be civil is to help someone in need. In light of recent events, that is more important than ever.

Civilly means to be kind. To show respect to one another. This is NOT to show hatred! Celebrate our diversity and respect that everyone is unique. 

Now where do we start being civil? If you read my Facebook post the other night, you know that I’m all about service. Service is good because it helps build up a sense of community and it helps our neighbors in need.

Resistance.

We need to let go of resistance. There is a difference between amateur and pro. We need to turn pro.

How do we turn from amateur to pro? The ammeter can't think of any ideas. His idea are not good enough. The pro on the other hand works for hours till he gets something done, and that sits back, feeling accomplished.

As Steven Pressfield said, "The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones"

The habit we need to break is resistance. What keep us from doing good work? Nothing. What prevents us from doing good work is ourselves.