Light The Cauldron

I was raised on musical theater thanks to both of my parents. My first musical was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Donny Osmond at the Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit. It used to be the big thing we'd do during the Christmas break. We would dress up in our Christmas outfits, drive into Detroit, see a show, and then get Steak 'n' Shake on the way back home.

Thanks to my parents' generosity I have been able to see so many wonderful shows, including Wicked, Spamalot, The Producers, Jersey Boys, Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, and my personal favorite, Les Miserables. That musical featuring Jean Valjean changed my life - we were in the second row, stage right, and could see the spit coming out of their mouths as they enunciated every word. The rotating stage was truly a revelation.

So when Hamilton came around and took everybody's hearts, including my siblings', I was just biding my time. My sister and brother both told…

When it came to United States History that I was taught in school, the 1960s were a time of protests, hippies, and marches. I've learned that the decade is much more than that, but I still flash to those pictures in my history books when someone mentions that time.

I knew that marches were a way for people to peacefully show their force en masse. It was something I could watch happening far away from me and take note over why they were marching.

Yesterday, however, I ended up in Chicago on the same day as the Women's March, and I got to experience this peaceful protest firsthand, and it was an amazing sight to see.

My trip on the date of the March was coincidence; when I purchased my ticket to Hamilton, all I was doing was picking a Saturday where I knew I was free of school activities and found an amazing price. I was made aware of the March a few days before, when the anticipated crowds started to get bigger and the rally had to be moved to Grant Park. I get Chicago news st…

In 2002, I was on a big high school choir tour to the southern states. It was my first major trip without my family, and I was loving it. The families I stayed with were incredibly nice, the food was delicious, and the bus travel was relaxing and enjoyable.

Every few days we would have a longer time to sit back and enjoy the areas we were visiting. One of those times was in New Orleans, Louisiana. On Easter Monday, after a triple-header of concerts the day before, we were dropped off near the French Quarter and told to meet back at the bus in the late afternoon, and we were required to stay with at least three other choir members the whole time.

The day was a blast - I had beignets at Cafe du Monde, walked down Bourbon Street, took a riverboat, and sang an impromptu concert with 15-20 other students in Jackson Square.

Unfortunately, the trip took a sour note when a group of us girls were heading back to the bus and decided to stop at a McDonald's for supper. As we were waiting in l…

In my quest to do some writing every day, I purchased a writing journal with prompts. Well, I didn't actually buy it; someone had accidentally given me an address book for Christmas instead of what she thought was a journal, so she let me exchange it for something else. So technically, she gave it to me.

There are lots of times when I just don't feel like I have the drive to write. That's where this journal comes into play. It gives me inspiration to write about something.

They also have key words that they want you to include in your story. Sometimes I am motivated to use them; other times I just let them pass me by.

Sometimes my stories have an ending, and sometimes I'm only getting them started before I stop. They only provide one page for each story, and for someone that tends to ramble, it allows me to try to keep my words to the point. Maybe one of these days I'll be inspired to keep writing the story in a different place!

I hope that by the end of the year,…

If you know me, you know that I love lots of things. Some of the things I love are related to each other, but quite a few are not. For example, I love the organ. I've been playing for eighteen years now. (Geesh...) But I also love Japanese anime. Are those things related? Not at all!

I am someone that tends to get sucked into fandoms very quickly. If it's recommended by a bunch of people, I give it a try. Stranger Things was one of my more recent obsessions, all because everyone started obsessing about it over the summer. (I'll never look at Eggo waffles the same way again.) It's not exactly FOMO, but more of a hope for enjoyment.

Because I'm so open to trying new television shows or movie genres, I mistakenly believe that other people are the same way. It kind of feels like this:

Person: "Hey, have you heard about ****?"

Me: "I've heard about it a little."

Person: "Ugh, it's SO GOOD. I just binged it all the way through. You'd …

The following is what happens when a girl is stuck trying to get a new license plate on the first business day after the New Year, and she's stuck with only her phone because she forgot a notebook, pad of paper, computer, or literally ANYTHING with which she could write down her thoughts. 

Time of entry into the Michigan Secretary of State office: 2:45 p.m.

So my writing today is going to be a little wonky, because I am typing this on my phone at my local Secretary of State office.

(For those of you who aren't from Michigan, the SOS office is the DMV.)

Because it's the first full day of operations after the New Year, this place is PACKED. My boss, who showed up at 1pm, finally got seen at 4pm. For me, I arrived at 2:30. They've gone through about 73 people since I got here, and there's still about another 80 in front of me.

One can only hope most of them left out of sheer frustration.

I am not frustrated. I honestly have nothing else going on today, and really the only t…

I am an incredibly stubborn person. If I say something and set my mind to accomplish it, I usually do. If I write down that I'm going to play a complicated organ piece for a service, I am going to learn that piece. When I tell people I am giving up desserts for Lent, there isn't a piece of candy that will touch my mouth until Easter Sunday. And if I register for a half marathon, those 13.1 miles will be conquered, no matter how slowly it ends up taking.

I needed a boost in one area specifically in 2016: my writing. I would write up a storm, and then take a long period of time off. I would come home from school, work out, eat dinner, and then think, "Maybe I should write something tonight...nah."

As a result, when considering a New Year's Resolution, I knew I had to veer away from the "normal" resolutions, like eating healthier and exercising. However, I wanted to do something that would benefit me in many ways.

Writing has become a great resource for me…