Assignment: In at least two paragraphs, describe how you would stage a story about your life that you want to pass down to future generations. [Hint: the story could be real or wishful thinking.]
To stage a story about my life, it would begin with a frame of a baby with big, brown eyes lying in an infant hospital bed. It would slowly pan out and Morgan Freeman would begin explaining, “The year is 1994, and on a cold January morning, a prodigal child fell onto the Earth.” He would proceed to inform the audience that my parents divorced when I was 11 months old and that our single mom raised me alongside my two older brothers in Colorado. Morgan would mention that my dad was a frequent alcohol drinker and became quite vocal about other peoples’ inadequacies when he was one too many shades to the wind. As scenes from my childhood flood the screen—playing Mortal Kombat with my brothers on a Super Nintendo, watching WWE and then practicing the wrestling moves on each other, the birth of my half sister when we were 7, 8, and 10—Morgan will tell the audience my mom moved us to three different towns, seven different houses, and five different schools before we settled down in permanently in 2004.
A caption that says four years later will show an adolescent me: mouth decorated with braces, sarcastic ideation, side-swept bangs that covered one eye, and dark clothing. It will show me playing volleyball for my high school, going to parties with my senior brother on the weekends, and finding a balance between wanting to be an academic slacker and the brainiac I was supposed to be. At 14, I loved Walt Whitman, ancient Greek and Roman politics, and Pink Floyd music. In a town of 200 that loved country music, worked with agriculture, and hosted events like the Barnyard Olympics, my approval ratings among the community were low. I’ll end my story with me scrolling the Internet for quotes and find one by Albert Einstein that says, “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” I will get inspired and realize my value does not rely on small-minded views, but on my resilience and tenacity. As the credits roll, “Stressed Out” by Twenty-One Pilots will play.