Stories from my Mind

(This story that you will be reading is true. In my Feature Writing class that I took in my last semester at the University of Akron, we were given the ability to free write on a topic we all discussed and agreed upon during our last class of the year. We were given 30 minutes to write as much we could, and after that 30 minutes, we must stop. We then all read our stories to the class. After I read my story, I was given the greatest reaction to any story that I have ever written... silence. The topic of that class was "Our Neighborhood." What follows from here may not be word for word what I had written, but it is damn near close to it. It stuck in my heart for a long time. I haven't looked at it for so long, not even knowing where I put it since that class, I still remember it like it was yesterday. Enjoy). Like in most neighborhoods, change is inevitable. The people change; the politics change. My neighborhood is no different. My childhood home ha...

Inspire Suggested by: Rachel Petty What will they think about me? What will they say? What will they do? Will they believe me? Will they listen to my words? Will they understand? Do they have the capacity to understand? Will it hurt? Can it possibly hurt more than it already does? How would that be possible? HOW? WHY?! ... Breathe in. Breathe out. Concentrate on that motion; the rise and fall of your chest as you inhale and exhale. With each breath, let yourself feel more relaxed and freed. It's not your fault. Whatever you think the reason being is, it's not your fault. You are not the only person to feel as you do, to think as you do, to be as you are in this moment. Breathe in. Breathe out. Concentrate. Think of those before you, the ones starting the conversation, letting the gates trickle open to the eventual flood that is to come. The ones releasing the pressure with one action, yet opening themselves up to even more. Think o...