Tears in the Details

I was sitting in the car listening to the radio - 'cause music always sounds best in the car - and saw a woman step out of her house in a long sleeve hoodie and a pair of jeans. As it was over 90 degrees, I thought " how peculiar. I wonder where she's going. Hopefully its very cold in the arena." I don't know why I thought "arena", it just made sense at the time. Thinking about the woman's hoodie reminded me of the Trayvon Martin Case in which a "neighborhood watch volunteer" followed, shot and killed a 17yr old "baby-faced" black boy, Trayvon, with unjustified reasons supposedly stemming from Trayvon's grey hoodie: A tragic case centered in racial profiling.


The whole story is heart wrenching but what really brought tears to my eyes was the report proclaiming what Trayvon was carrying on his person that rainy night he was fatally shot down. Amongst other things Trayvon Martin had a bag of skittles in his pocket. How perfect. What other way can you capsulate childhood and innocence than with a bag of fruity, colorful, chewy candy. Skittles. That detail reminds you that a CHILD is dead; a promise filled with dreams, prodigious Will, youth and sugar. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

 by way of Google Images

Click on Trayvon Martin Case to read more details concerning the case

I'm not a desensitized psychopath making light of the murder but this detail, in relation to the entire story, -the irony, the tragedy, all the framework and trappings of the case,- the skittles, captivated me. It's what film makers and novelists spend their whole career trying to capture. It's a romantic detail: it makes a beautiful story.

My Professional Goals

No!! No. NO! N.O. No. I'm not going to be a teacher. I refuse to be a teacher...well for right now. I'm sold, determined, convinced that I should be a storyteller. Whether I be a novelist or screenwriter, director or editor, I'm going to tell stories of truth. Not chronological truth or facts but a human truth, a universal truth. A soul speaker, a human connector, I want to tell a story that is "real": a sensuous real. I want to make you happy. I want to make you sad. I want to make you blush or cry. I want to make you angry, jealous, greedy, or hostile. I want to be a body snatcher, making you feel the stress of my characters; love with them ,die with them; if only for a moment. I aspire to be a grand artist, and remind humanity what it is capable of.


To do this, to BE this, I must learn how to create stories effectively. Two of my short term goal are to learn how to digitally produce video and write with discipline; the worst being discipline . I'm very lazy, a procrastinator and air headed. I lack focus but conquering myself is part of my journey as a new adult. Another one of my goals is to get into grad school. I have to apply to either University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas at Arlington by December. Currently I'm working on a digital production and written portfolio to submit to both and need major help. Any advise will be appreciated.

Go Longhorns! Image via google images