Tapestry of My Life

         Imagine just one of the many small villages scattered throughout Vietnam. Contained within that village are small mud-colored huts, fields upon fields of wheat and rice, rivers to catch fish, many plants and trees, and of course the bustle of many busy, and hard-working people. I was born in one of these places. I don’t really know anything about my birth except for what I have already described. But I was brought into this world by a poor mother who could barely provide for herself let alone a newborn infant. A heart-broken mother gave her child of 5 months to an orphanage, where other families wanting a child could bring me into their lives and hopefully be able to provide for me. From that point until I was 14 or 15 months old, I stayed in the crowded orphanage with many other children, until I was brought to the United States by my adopted mother.

From then until I started 1st grade, I attended day-care at the YMCA. There was a playground with metal play equipment, toys to play with, and of course work to do as I got older. Highlands Elementary school was a horrible experience in many ways to the person I was at the time and the person I would be in the near future. Although I learned all I needed to in the close confines of the small classrooms, I was relentlessly teased and made fun of by my classmates. This made for a horrible social experience, if I had one at all. They picked on other kids from time to time, but it seemed as though I was their main target. I had a lot of creativity at that age, and no way to express it. When my mom discovered Cab Calloway School of the Arts as a potential middle school for me to go to, it opened so many new doors and would dramatically impact and change the person I was at the time. It was very difficult for me to be able to focus on my art portfolio for auditioning to get in, and my mom even had to keep me home from school one day to get it done. But I eventually was able to complete it, and auditioned and got in. I had no idea what to expect at Cab, but I hoped that it would be dramatically different from my currently horrible position at Highlands.

Cab opened many new doors for me. The social experience was improved greatly from what I went through at Highlands, and has played a major role in the social life I have today. It helped me learn that there were actually people out there who valued my opinion and cared what I had to say about something. It made me realize that there are people out there that actually like to be around me and are happy that I am their friend. Cab has also provided a way for me to express my creativity while constructive criticism and guidance was provided in such a way that it encouraged me to have a more positive outlook on school in general. And since going to Cab Calloway, everything seems to be better. I’m a lot happier about many things I didn’t used to be, and now I actually like going to school.

Cirque du Soleil is another amazing thing I’ve been able to witness upon going to Cab. In 7th grade, we had a trip to New York City to see a show by Cirque du Soleil, “Wintuk”, in Madison Square Garden. We went for the day and were able to wander around Manhattan (with an adult chaperone, of course), until we all met up for dinner then went to see the show. It was one of the most amazing performances I’ve ever seen, and coming from an arts school, I’d seen a lot of fantastic performances before. It was unlike anything I’d seen before, seemingly impossible balancing acts was the majority of my amazement with it. What was capable of the human body and the mind when one was completely focused and fully trusting whomever they were working with was another element that made the show so amazingly enjoyable for me. It was so wonderful, that about a year and 5 months later, my aunt called my mom and told her about a Cirque du Soleil show that would be performing in Virginia, near my grandparents’ house, a good hour and a half drive from our house. We (my mom and I) drove up to Virginia on the day of the show, put our things at my grandparents’ house, and then met up with my aunt and uncle to see “Kooza”. Again, the show was an amazing and spectacular display of seemingly impossible balance, intense acts of trust, and pushing the body and mind to the limit. A blur of bright colors and spotlights, and an amazing performance all together is how I would sum up the night, if I had to do so in a sentence.

Despite the completely improved social life I was able to experience at Cab and the positive outlook on school that I gained, nothing was able to change how I felt about the events that took place on September 11th, 2001. It was my 7th birthday, and I don’t remember much if anything from that day. Although as I’ve grown older and have been able to understand what happened that day, I wish I had been older when it happened so I would remember it better. But every year on September 11th, since I was in about 6th or 7th grade, the joy of a birthday coming was followed immediately by the sorrow and generally negative feelings associated with 9/11/01. I’ve learned to deal with it better, but it will still remain a big part of my life. The image of the 2 planes crashing into the World Trade Center, how they both looked standing side-by-side after being hit, the huge smoke stacks that rose from the upper floors of the buildings, and finally each towers’ collapse. After watching video upon video and viewing dozens of photos of the horrific event, those images will be forever engraved in my head, along with the sorrow and mourning feelings towards any family that lost somebody close to them on that day.