Spear Hunters, Rainbow Feathers, And Spirit Killers

Man, I would love to have a band called that. I think I'll just start bands to name them. We'll have one badass song and then disband. That would be so punk rock.

So I'm standing in my room, putting away my notebook and my roommate's friend Cindy is in there, using my roommate's laptop like always. I say hi and she asks me about my portfolio. (For our English 155 class we have to put together an end of semester portfolio filled with the essays we've written this semester.)

She asks me if I find that class hard and I say no. Boring? Yes. I have an extreme aversion to expository writing; it is more than obvious, I'm sure, that I prefer the more elaborate, richer storytelling side of writing. But hard? Nah.

Cindy then tells me that she really hates that class because her professor is so critical of her writing. She says that she has always had people tell her they liked her writing, and she has always gotten A's on her assignments. But this one professor thinks her writing is "complicated."

I tell her she can't let one person's opinion become fact. She says she doesn't want to major in Psychology anymore, and that she wanted to major in Journalism like me, but has lost her love of writing from taking this class. She says she dreads it now.

It makes me sad to hear things like this, because I can actually relate. In 10th grade, I had a teacher who would never give me more than a C on any paper I turned in, then once told me I was a good writer. I was like, WTF woman? Give me a fucking A then!

But I know I'm a fucking good writer. It just proves that you can't let one person stop you from doing what you want and love. I told Cindy she couldn't let it get to her because she'll be facing that all her life and if she let's it bother her, she'll just be sad and depressed.

Can you fucking believe it? I'm giving out goddamn life lessons now. Who would have ever thought...

But it's true. I remember when I was the Features Editor for my HS newspaper (hell yeah, I wrote the album and movie reviews AND won an award for my review of Justice's + thank you!) and I had to do news writing. I hated it. So very much. But instead of saying, "That's it, I never want to write again," I just said, "I'll never write on a newspaper again. But I'll keep writing."

You guys, never let anyone come between you and your dreams, desires, hopes, wants, loves, lusts, passions, whatever. Just remember: one person having a fucked up opinion does NOT make it fact.

E