VIGNETTE PROLOGUE
(part1)
“Finally,” Drucilla sighed to herself, “I’am finally upon the brink of my
Autumn-Story semester at StoryStudio77; for five straight weeks, I’ll be among its
schoolhouse-rock.” Tonight, is orientation
and she decided to arrive early to lend a helping hand. She figured she
may-as-well since the Studio will serve as her extended-stay for the better of the
next twenty-four months. She’s among the
few who secured scholarship for the Autumn and upcoming Spring semesters. Just
by being in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time; visiting her local workspace hub
she opted to participate in a pop-up study-hall that introduced the
conjunctions of self-narrative based composition, musical-arts/crafting, and intra-personal
development. The Studio’s founder and
co-owner Julesse ‘Jewellz’ Classique conducts, twice a year, a 3day StoryStudio|StudyHall
Tour throughout the DMV-metropolis with her Sages-of-Storytelling. They tour every April for the Autumn-semester
and every September for the Spring-semester. Pre-semester prep is intra-intensive;
meaning there’s a huge time-requirement for inner-reflective and composition exercising,
self-discoveries, research, and development. There’s also a great deal of contemplation
involved, especially when deciphering inner-voice-vocals. And the contouring of one’s devoted-mind
toward the patient-processing needed to host the unfolding of storylines; it’s truly
an imperative component.
As Dru made her way across town she distinctly remembered Jewellz saying
in her presentation, “The smooth-flow of self-based narrative for the benefit
of therapeutic-gain is in part contributed thru one’s accurate clarity and firm
understanding of its subject, content and context. And because our Studio also
produces visual/musical narratives as well as autobiographical pieces; time-is-of-the-quintessential. In-class semesters for young-Scribes are autumn
and spring. Our winter and summer seasons are preserved for our affinity-tuitional
and solo-marketplace clientele – all of whom donate generously to the Studio’s
private scholarship funds…thanks to their support we can offer such lucrative
opportunities. Which by the way, balances
perfectly as it allows scholars the compliments of off-season study time and
possible paid R&D gigs. …Our scouting tours for semester-attendance are
always hosted four-months prior. With-this-said, an intricate detail to our
progressive-agenda is to offer eclectic learning experiences to local essayists,
poetic-justices, and musing-scribes who are serious about re-contributing their
scribing-talents and storytelling-services to help fortify our Rubicon of authentic-narrative
around the inner-corridors of our City-Life’s
experiences, acquaintances, and encounters.”
Dru then recalled her hesitance to apply.
Her initial thoughts made her shameful-background glow bright red with trouble.
Then she pondered how her future seemed too dark and moody. In turn, this
sprouted worry for her, because at-first-glance, the Studio-crew seemed way too
accomplished…too polished…way too positively-personal. She felt a pang of assumption that led her to
think they’d hastily judge her…and eventually dismiss her…and with her luck, it
would be right at the moment when she’d started falling back in-love with her
Self…when her inner-likability geared to re-stabilize…and her potentialities
and purpose(full) strides had begun to re-gain their footing. “But!”, she exclaimed aloud to stop her
trains of through from massive wreckage.
– “If I let this opportunity pass
me by…I’d soon be extending an awful lot of time and energy forgiving myself for
being suckered by such fleeting-fears.”
She recalled a promise she made to herself months ago. During this life’s
time she wanted to utilize her word-wonders for good, and that it was imperative
that she fell back in-love with Her-Self – no matter what! She’d put her
time-in…and seriously indulge her inner-workings. Because she’s been
down-in-the-dumps for way too long – nearly ten-years she’d been this ruddy
mess. Granted, all of this time hadn’t been squandered on pity-parties and
self-loathing; much had been honorably invested in loads of therapeutic-practice,
research-and-developments. And even though this successive-journey had taken a
good-long-while to materialize – she would not change her journey’s paths not
one bit. Yeah, her life’s style had to minimize tremendously, to the point of
her wondering if she’d ever recover…if her decisions to pursue her heart’s
desires had taken her beyond redemption (she hadn’t been gainfully employed for
a long while). And would she ever return
capable of conjuring the quality-of-life that attracts true-respectability. She
figured she’d never land another corporate-gig; which she was totally cool
with…corporate-office politics made her insane, and besides, she could never
seem to dodge the magnetisms of becoming the office’s unofficial People’s Champion
– which would’ve been wonderful had they been unionize, but they weren’t.
Truly, what she wanted most was to generate routine streams of income as
a word-wizard for hire. She fondly
thought about the blossoming success of StoryStudio77 and how Jewellz has carved
a very unique professional-lane for her and her Crew. Dru admired their style-of-community…and she
wanted-in. Mainly because, she and Storytelling
dance-in-the-rain with rhythmic precision and words honestly love her; as she did
them. And…because she wanted-to…needed-to be among those that naturally and
peacefully rested at night and looked-forward to the dawning of the-new-day.
Once she was able to salve her growling fears, she thought back when she
departed the pop-up study-hall session; feeling inspired and capable of pursing
such a commitment. She thought about the
feeling she got when she slightly thumbed through the take-home packet and noticed
the neon-flier that immediately grabbed her attention and directed to the disclaimer
that sweetened her optimism like honey. It
told her that she needed not-worry about prior collegiate-affiliation,
knowledge of sentence-structures, grammar-lings, or even conventional
writing-styles – that all she needed was a strong, sincere-belief in the powers
of Story… (she thought to herself, “check”), the unwavering dedication to
study; from-the-inside-out… “check”, a respectful
observer of the Artsy-realms… “check”, and possibly a lover of urban-bound
acoustics… “check”. To jump-start the
application process, all she needed to do was forward a self-reflective-essay about
whatever made her proud/inspired, as well as about something that has made her
smile In the last thirty-days, and any links to online works, which was
encouraged but not necessary. She dwelled inside the excitement of that night,
so it could, once again, overtake her fears of the unknown. She couldn’t recall much about the rest of her
walk home from the Hub that evening except how she clutched that flier in her
sweaty palm until she was firmly planted in front of her desk. Then she thought with pride how within a few
hours she was putting her essay in the mailbox and accompanied it with a prayer
of faith and freedom. And within two-weeks she’d received a call from Jewellz,
then a follow-up chat with Emmitt Garrison the Studio’s Director of
Admissions. By the third round of conversations,
with Ms. Taj Tinselton, the assistant-director of Admissions – Dru was completely
clear about her upcoming pursuits of life and liberty…which was all for the
sake of her well-being and on-behalf-of-the-Story.
Situations and circumstances can
switch; and drastically change within-the-blink-of-an-eye. She smiled as she recalled her mother’s regularly-scheduled advice as she
rode the elevator up to the fourth-floor in the Solomon G. Brown Salvation Army
Building. Her trip to the Studio was a tranquil adventure since she was traveling
in the middle of the day – the traffic on MLK Jr. Avenue wasn’t too bad – thank
goodness! When the elevator doors opened
she was greeted by a cheery, very tall, dark-chocolaty fella with beaming
braces upon his pearly white teeth. His
stylish outfit immediately spoke to her inner-fashionista, making her wonder if
he’d be part of her great-day-in-the-morning sentiments over the next
five-weeks. If so, her concentration may
be a bit challenged. As he walked from behind the front-desk with his hand
extended to shake hers, her primal-feminine-radar noticed the unique-blend of
his tan tweed vest, crisp white t-shirt that profoundly said #DCNative in gold lettering,
dark blue jeans and tan braided belt, and a pair of classic low-top white Gucci
Ace leather sneakers. She sighed like a Cheshire-cat before he got closer. Then he spoke, and his voice vibrated, “Welcome
to StoryStudio77, you must be Drucilla Motley?” Dru responded in-kind, “Yes
Sir. Hello.”
She noticed the strings of 8x10 phots along the walls in the main-lobby. She saw hers just above the entrance of the
far-right corridor. She returned her smile
and shook his hand, a bit star-struck.
“I’am Thaddeus McCloud, the Studio’s master-chef and dean of F&B
Liberal Arts & GreenLife Philosophy.
Liam, our Studio-manager would have been the one to meet you, but he’s currently
out on errands. Can I get you some fresh
squeezed strawberry lemonade, grape, or mango-papaya juice?” He offered proudly
as he showed Dru to a corner of plush chairs. “Yes, please…mango-papaya sounds
good.” “Ok…cool…make yourself
comfortable and I’ll return in a few.”
Dru scanned the assorted messages along the huge chalkboard painted wall
behind the front-desk that was full of calligraffiti art-writing and StoryTyme
shout-outs – AutumnStory Semester starts
September 1st…all classes are FULL! |
First-year’s Scribe Orientation tonight at 7pm! |
StoryStudio77 hosted Journal-Fitting/Story-Social w/ Jenni Bick CustomJournals next Thursday night at 6pm!!! | Story-Study-Hall
AutumnTour2018: Thursday Sept. 27th – Saturday Sept 29th | Get-Ready! Get-Ready! SpiceSuite Tutoring
for the Holidays!! | Clout Workspace hosted
Story-Tyme next Saturday at Noon! | Art-space
hosted Story-Tyme in three weeks!!! | MahoganyBooks
hosted Book Fair next Month…stay-tuned!!! | TheDen-ReadingRoom-ArtistExchange
hosted Story-Tyme for the Holidays! | #AnacostiaArtDistrict!
| SmileHerb hosted Story-Tyme coming in
December!!! | District-of-Clothing
hosted Story-Tyme for the Holidays!!! | CAMPspace
hosted Story-Tyme coming soon! | Diamond-in-the-District
hosted Story-Tyme coming soon! | #DCNative! | #NectarOfTheGods! |
Story(REALLY)Matter! …Are you keeping track of your 10,000 hours??? | Me~We!
She took out her StoryStudio77 calendar-notebook that Jewellz sent her in
the mail and jotted down everything she needed and wanted to remember. Then she dove into the notions that put her high-school-crush
on Thaddeus to-rest. She do-not-do her teachers,
and she damn-sure wasn’t about to be distracted by her Dean of anything;
regardless of his high-end stylish-nature and DC-Chocolate-esque. She’d settle for acquiring awesome grades in
the philosophies of herbs-&-spices, learning how to craft flawless Food-and-Beverage
storylines, and maybe a glowing letter of recommendation upon graduation. Before long, Thaddeus returned with a tall,
clear plastic cup with mango-papaya written on the lid and a straw. “Here you go Mz. Dru.” “Thanks Mr. Thaddeus.”
…
“Ahhh, please call me Micky…or just Thaddeus is cool.” Dru nodded, and he
continued, “Everyone is out-and-about gathering goodies for tonight’s
festivities. You’re a bit early…that’s
whassup…Jewellz has a fondness for Scribes with punctuality. …Speaking of which, as a newbie you’ll be in
F&B Romanticism 101 on Wednesdays for eight weeks, 11am to 2pm. so, on Wednesdays
you won’t need to bring lunch, we eat whatever we prepare. It’s also the shortest day of the week for
you since you are a full-daytime Scribe.
And you have every Friday off, unless you’ve signed-up for
story-community-service or work-study.
But, I’am sure Taj has explained all of this to you during your
admissions process.” “Yes…she did”, Dru continued, Mz. Taj seems like a super-cheery
person. Just about everyone I’ve come in
contact with from the Studio seems to be.”
Mickey responded with full-esteem, “Yeah…on most days we’re a pretty cool
bunch. It’s mainly because we are all
finally showing up to do what we truly love and believe in. And…yes, Taj does have an extra oomph of
cheer”, Thaddeus giggled in earnest before continuing. “Taj is a twin…and in my
humble observations…there’s often a jolly twin and a not-so-jolly twin. Taj’s twin Tanji, the Studio’s finance-guru,
isn’t mean-spirited or anything…she’s just a lot more serious than Taj.”
“Ahhh, you study twins”, Dru marveled at the discovery, “…wow that’s very
interesting. So-does my older sister
Viola…we call her VeVe. She’s an herbalist
with a private practice in downtown Silver Spring. But she has this uncanny interest in
psycho-social studies…she’s obsessed with all things regarding twins…it’s a bit
weird actually. She’s been swearing
she’s a twin since we were kids and that she’d been separated at birth during
the early 70s when twin-research in the Americas was running ramped among
urban-families. She’s been hounding my
parents for nearly 20yrs…and damn-near accusing them of their participation in
such matters. What’s interesting…they’ve
not denied it, but they aren’t openly speaking about it either. My parents have endured three sets of twins
before Viola and was plum tired of child bearing…I have no idea how I got
through.” Dru giggled while wondering if she’d just said too much. Thaddeus looked at her with shocking eyes,
“Did I just hear you correctly?”
Drucilla signed, “Yes, you did.” But she didn’t elaborate any further. All
of a sudden, she felt emotionally-naked.
She knew this was a very tender subject for her big-sister and she hadn’t
a clue about Mr. Mickey. Yeah, he was to
be her dean of F&B Romance, but they’re acquaintance wasn’t even 60minutes
old. And besides, knowing how insanely
private Viola is and how often she makes-mention of being emotionally-amputated
and kinetically-depleted; she felt like a loosey-goosey – what her sisters call
someone who’s giving up family-narrative without warrant and or merit. Shucks, she felt like a flossy-loosey-goosey
– someone who knows giving-up-the-narrative could possibly become hazardous to
one’s health and cause major damage. Thaddeus sighed, “Wow…that is interesting…very-interesting-indeed.”
Just then, the elevator doors opened and Jewellz stepped into the
reception area with both arms full of stuff. “Hey Provost,” Thaddeus greeted as
he walked over to relieve her of her burden.
“Hey Mickey…good afternoon to ya.” Then she looked over at Drucilla.
“Hey Mz. Dru! Good-afternoon beloved…I’m delighted you’ve arrived early – maybe
we’ll have time to complete the extended tour I promised you. Drucilla followed Thaddeus’ lead and
addressed Jewellz accordingly, “Hi Provost, yes, I’d like that. …Do you need
some help with any of that?” Just before
Jewellz could respond, the second set of elevator doors opened and Eury, the
Studio’s master-storyteller and dean of Story-Community Services stepped off
with her coaching-squire Aleeza. The two of them also loaded down with all
sorts of gift-bags and boxes, but wrapped in fancy, glittery paper.
Dru felt a wondrous emotion blanket her excitement. Eury’s presence carried
like MissOne, the good-witch of the North, played by Thelma Carpenter in the
movie The Wiz. Because of her life’s
work she’s been the locally renowned music-narratologist for the past
five-years; having her truly fitting the jazzy-description rather well. Eury’s devotion to serving as a
guidance-counselor of sorts on behalf of the DivineTrifecta: Story,
Arts-&-Acoustics; her specialty mostly involve those of entry-level-scholarship;
especially those she considers diamonds-in-the-rough. She says teaching those that might not
otherwise be taught is her greatest-commission.
And yes, the rumor is true, she really does carry a wand made of
mahogany-wood that she’ll tap the sides of her temples (as well as tap directly
in the middle of her forehead). She taps
the middle for her madd-hatter senses; the right-side for her artsy-muse; and
the left-side for her logical-lyrical senses – and stories pour out of her like
a Broadway performance.
While Eury hugged-and-kissed Jewellz and Thaddeus and dumping all the
contents from her arms on the lobby’s roundtable; she noticed Drucilla. Her smile grew enchanting and she spoke with
a voice that seemed willing to restore the woes-of-the-world, “Immeasurable
blessings and gracious-greetings to you young-Scribe.” Eury walked right up to
Dru and bowed deeply, “Welcome to your StoryStudio – we are delighted to have
you amongst us. The stories that dwell
within you shall bless-beyond-barriers.”
Drucilla’s heart fluttered and without even thinking, she returned the
deep bow and said, “Thank you Story-Sage, I’am honored to be amongst
you’all.” Eury wasn’t expecting to be impressed
by such a literary-response. She widened her arms and enveloped Dru in a hug
that only a fairy-god-mother could render.
Dru’s soul melted into the safety of Eury’s embrace, which damn-near
brought her to tears. Making her think to herself, ‘Finally, I’ve arrived and
free to dwell amongst those I truly belong…where we are destined to speak the
same language…where clear, heart-felt communications are what-they-wanted-to-do-best.’
Eury released her grip, smiled earnestly at Dru and then swiftly exited the
reception-area with Thaddeus and Aleeza in tow. Thaddeus yelled back over his
shoulder, “Dru is was a pleasure speaking with you…we’ll have to finish our chat
soon.” Dru responded without hesitation, “Yes Sir…will-do.” Somehow, the apprehension she’d been feeling
a little while ago was absent. Not that she was eager to spill-the-tea; but there
was no longer a notion of ‘stranger-danger’.
Just then, the elevator doors opened again and two women with the same face stepped into the
reception-area, Taj and her twin sister Tanji with their arms filled with all
sorts of bags and boxes. They were accompanied
by another very tall, good-looking gentleman. Drucilla immediately greeted Taj
and helped to relieve her load. Jewellz
helped Tanji while saying, “Dru this is Tanji, Taj’s twin, she’s our
finance-guru and this is Liam Ealey, our Jack-of-all-Gurus.” Liam laughed while
saying, “Hello Dru it’s nice to finally meet you.” Dru responded in turn. Then Tanji
stepped to Dru and extended her hand, “Welcome young-Scribe. Your first-year’s
financial bundle has been cleared and there’s a few coins left for you to
purchase writing-supplies, as well as cover your first few weeks of traveling
expenses. We’ll catch-up before the
evening is over. Enjoy your orientation.” Dru replied in-kind, “Thank you
Tanji.” And then Tanji too disappeared down the corridor with Liam in tow. Jewellz
turned her attention to Taj who was behind the front-desk, the printer blazing
while she played back voicemails from earlier in the day. “Hey Taj, I’am about to finish up Dru’s tour
before folks start arriving.” Taj nodded, “Okay…cool. Who’s manning the reception-area for the
evening-shift?” While entering the far-right corridor Jewellz responded, “Emmitt…who is coming
this way right now.” Jewellz smiled fondly, “Hey’there Sir Emmitt.” Emmitt responded in-kind,
“Hey’there Lady Jewellz.” Then he turned and extended his hand, “Welcome
young-Scribe, it’s nice to make your acquaintance.” Dru smiled and said, “Hi Sir
Emmitt, thank you.” Dru noticed that
Emmitt’s handshake was different than everyone else’s – he shook with both of
his hands, one grabbing while the other covered. The gesture was tranquil and Zen-like.
Immediately after turning into the corridor they reached the first
classroom with a sign on the closed door; a miniature chalkboard that had
Stranger-than-Fiction drawn in graffiti font. Then hanging just below it was an
engraved plaque that read: L’Enfant Plaza ~ D.C. Hall-of-Frame ~ The
Underground Pressure Pod ~ Bureau-of-Engraving.
Jewellz opened the door and motioned for Dru to follow. Immediately upon
stepping over its threshold her inner-voice said, ‘Ahhh Wonderland’. “This is Eury’s classroom, aka The
Grand-Story Room and Resource Central.” Jewellz said after allowing Dru to
indulge in her panoramic gaze. The sunlight was the only light in the room and the
scent of freesia; a 200yr old flower known to provoke happiness and friendship
– native to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, filled the room. The entire wall to the left of the door was
covered from floor to ceiling with chalkboard paint. Dru did a double-take while noticing the pedestal
copper birdbath filled with assorted color chalks and board erasers. The wall directly across the lofty space
adorned with two large windows bared the artful-soul of Historic Anacostia,
also sat two large, pillowy, leather chaise sectionals, bronze in color and
decorated with antique nail-head fixtures.
The sectionals were push together to form a wide U; rendering the clear impressions
of grand-story-time. Inside the U was a
midnight blue wool rug with tan lines outlining of a lotus-flower directly in
the middle. Two pairs of shoes sat at the brim of the rug; indicating where to
leave one’s shoes. Two bean-bags and
several floor-pillows were also situated upon the area-rug. Several rattan
breakfast-trays sat on the sofas. Dru figured they were more likely used for
reading and writing than for eating. And
at both ends of the sofa-U was a mahogany-stand of five tv-tray-tables. The two opposite walls were lined with tall
bookshelves along the door’s wall, and short-shelves along the wall adjacent to
the sectionals – just steps in front of the tall bookshelves, but not directly
in the middle of the room was a roundtable with ten colorful seats around
it. To the far-left of the shorter
bookshelves sat a garden-rock waterfall.
The shelf-top also adorned all sorts of framed pictures and
graffiti-font quotes from local authors and storytellers, proverbs, and numerous
gifts from Scribe-alumni. The wall just
above the short-shelves; called The-Less-Than-Six-Degrees-Matrix; was lined
with all sorts of photos and framed messages from her peers-&-pupils;
connecting them with strings of yarn and glittery ribbons.
Jewellz spoke as Dru slowly walked the room trying to imprint everything
upon her memory, “Eury’s entry-level Scribes are often invited to craft their
own matrix as their year’s end complementary-composition. Those without a wall of their own can
construct a mini-wall to be framed and housed throughout the Studio corridors. Upon
completing their first twelve months she departs her most valuable story-sentiments
– ‘your vitality is connected to your storylines. Pay close attention to those
that you connect-with and preserve-with…make these details important upon your
IN-sights. Our Life’s impressions within
this reality are always solid and reliable.
Your response(ability) to composition is solely for the sake of our
lay-lines in history. By keeping a keen-sight
on your story-matrix, your firsthand engagements of your daily-drum shall rejuvenate
your interpretations. (Re)view your story-boards, vision-boards, journals,
key-notes, calendars, binders, etc. as often as you can – routine frequency
helps fortification. I became an ambassador
for the DivineTrifecta in the early 90s when I began cultivating my vagabond-esque
career in the salon-industry. I’ve undergone plenty of transitions, but what’s always
remained the same is the power connecting our stories, situations, and
salutations.’
Before long, she invited Dru to sit down on the sectionals and instructed
her to peer out the window and asked her to make it a habit to sit inside the U
and gaze out the window. She also told
her, “Just sit and silently evoke a data-dump…by engaging organic head, heart,
hand coordination through handwriting portals organic inner-healing. Treat yourself to the glide of good-quality
paper with a no.2 pencil.” She also
asked her to keep lots of pencils and erasers in her travel-gear and never
(ever) leave the house without something-to-write-and-record-with. Dru affirmed confidently. She also asked Dru to use precautionary
measures to protect her fourth-estate – basing them upon the Journalists’ code
of honor. Dru was free to explore Story as it resonated with her and that the
Studio’s release-regulations were simple: compositions released by
StoryStudio77 belongs to S.S.77 – and any storylines released by Dru, belongs
to Dru. Jewellz encouraged Dru to begin exploring
the options of her own community co-op projects. As they headed for the door
Dru’s responses dwindled to a few nods and smiles; she’d become lost for words.
“Oh…and make sure to always close the door to this room…Eury has deemed the
energy of the room sacred-creativity. Allowing her magic to escape makes her a cranky-pants
and her voice will boom the roof off this place.” Jewellz giggled again, but
with serious eyes. Dru nodded and said
respectfully, “Okay, yes.”
They popped next door to the learning-lounge, then into the conference,
then on around to Executive-Rowe and swiftly through the Scribe-Study-Hall, and
into the opposite corridor that led back to the reception-area. Just mid-way of
the corridor the reached the Story Sanctuary; the only room along this corridor. A lofty rectangular room with two doors at
its far ends welcomed Dru and she sighed with sheer delight. The carpet was plush, dark-crimson, which matched
the custom curtains and velvety seats of ten that sat neatly around six big
roundtables. Dru instantly took off her shoes even though nothing indicated her
to-do-so – she felt as if she walked on clouds. She stood just beyond the Sanctuary’s
threshold and soul-gazed the room for a long while – in-awe. At the front of the room was a slightly
elevated platform with tall speakers at each end and a movie-sized screen that
seemed to cascade from the curtains.
There were two tall mahogany-wooden lecterns with ‘StoryStudio77’
engraved on them; one at each end of the platform. The long wall behind her; with the doors, was
aligned with several tantalizing buffet-tables with assorted fountains of beverage.
The six roundtables were adorned with crisp white linen and each table had a
different uniquely designed floral arrangement with a signature-card entitling
the floral-artist who’d designed them (flowers also convey story).
The-word-on-the-Streets is that Eury travels with her own DJ, so, she
figured the DJ situated just beyond the door at the far-left was Eury’s
compadre – he flowed nicely with the ambiance, offering a mixology of
jazzy-GoGo and antiquated Hip-Hop – the scene was truly out of a fairytale; simplistically
perfect. Dru finally made her way back
to Jewellz who was huddled up with Thaddeus, Liam, and Eury. They all shifted to make room for Dru to join
the ring. “Dru, you’ll be sitting at table-3 with Liam, four other
young-Scribes, and a few VIPs from StoryDistrict”,
Eury told her. “And…here’s my
soft-disclosure: I shall not ever put-you-on-the-spot, but if ever you want the
MIC, holla-a-me…ok?” Dru cleared her throat nervously and nodded her head in acknowledgment.
Eury continued, “Our story-grapevines love to mix-and-mingle – and we are
serious about our Scribes – helping you host your 10,000 hours of story-tyme is
truly our honor and pleasure. Because
surely, all-practice-makes-for-perfection!
But…no pressure…just-letting-you-know-where-to-go. Whenever you’re ready…I’am ready.” Dru smiled
affectionately at the disclosure of solid-support. Eury then took her by the
hands and started singing.
“A-penny-for-your-thoughts…a-nickle-for-a-kiss…and-a-whole-dime-if-you-tell-me-that-you-love-me.”
By the time it was over, everyone in the ring was singing and swaying with Eury
as if it was a regular form-of-welcoming-gesture. Eury then bowed and glided
away to chat with her DJ.
Jewellz looped her arm in Dru’s and showed her to her table. “Help
yourself to whatever you like – it’s all here for you to enjoy your evening of
orientation. And mingle freely. And…keep
your details-journal handy and jot down anything that resonate with you…you’re
on a 10,000hr mission to describe and interpret. And anything can serve as a provocateur to
your curiosity. Shucks, speaking of missions, Eury’s is to crate-and-barrel an
evolutionary curriculum of visual/musical narratology, she’s taking song-verations
to a whole(new)level. Our
DMV-community-champions attend our New Scribe Orientations to discover their own
storytelling-talent. They often seek to
cultivate trusts-and-bonds and friendships with those most likely to compose
the quality storylines of their longevity and legacy. For-what-it’s-worth, they all loath
interviews conducted by folks they are un-acquainted with – our hosted events allow
them the chance to emotionally invest; freely, and on-behalf-of-the-Story.
They’re endowed with the option to coach-their-stories into fruition.” Jewellz went
silent as she glanced around the room.
Dru eventually said, “Thank you Jewellz, for everything. Especially for your living-examples of
Story-ambassadorship.” Jewellz sat down so their gaze could be balanced, “Dru,
it’s truly my pleasure. There’s no other
place I’d rather be…or anything else I’d rather be doing. Building the courage to own and tell my own
story literally save my life. Remember,
I went to jail for child-support and burned all my bridges in the
corporate-world. Story offered me redemption to earn income. I was penny-less
and hope-less. Shucks...I was the penny with the dang whole in it!”, Jewellz
laughed really loud. “Thanks to my heartache and downfalls, I know my purpose…and
it’s to guide others into their forgiving-courage to slay the shame that keeps
them bound to sadness and despair – thru the telling of their Story. Plus, I’ve been fortunate to cross paths with
folks who are just as serious, just as passionate and purposed as I’am. I like
to call them the Rescuers. And we are all here wishing all our young-Scribes
irreplaceable scholarship and golden-compassing. Making me forever grateful for
the best-seat-in-the-house!” Jewellz paused before saying, “Ok Missy, do-as-I-say
– enjoy yourself tonight. Because at the
start of the semester – we all shall have on our seriousness. …Now it’s time
for me to-take-the-mic, I’ll catch-up with you later young-Scribe.” They hugged
like fond-sisters and Jewellz sprinted up to the lectern that was aligned with
the DJ.
Dru headed for the buffet tables; just at the time her belly began to sing.
She piled her plate without shame and made her way to the fountain where she
met up with another young-Scribe. “Hi I’am Ambrosia Dove”, the short and sassy
girl with lively eyes said as she filled her glass. Dru responded in-kind. Then she said, “I’am at table-3…and those are
my parents over there laughing with Eury and the DJ…Thaddeus McCloud is my
God-Dad. He suggested that I enroll after he attended my Poetry-premier that my
Dad hosted for me at the LabAPC. Both of them, and my Mom too, really wanted
me to work with Jewellz. Jewellz did too once I aced their PLAR
(prior-learning-assessment/recognition) session. But, I wasn’t ready back then
to adhere to the enormous study-requirements – but I am now – especially since
I got busted for graffitiing the side of Ms. Chung’s deli. Yeah…I know it sounds a bit juvenile, but it allows
me to expresses the-kid-within…besides, that naked-building kept calling me every
time I walked passed it…it wanted me to dress it with some
stylish-poetic-justice; so, I did”, Ambrosia paused as if to seriously ponder
an epiphany then continued, “So, as a result, Mickey put me in charge of dressing
the chalkboard in the reception-area…it’s truly an honorary gesture.” Dru
smiled in admiration as she recalled the artistic-wonder of the chalkboard.
They made their way to their table and sat together while they quietly
ate and listened to Jewellz speak about Life being stranger than fiction and
how her young-Scribes are setting out on a journey of a thousand-miles, and how
it was the Sage’s glory to support and guild-with-pride-and-protection. She closed her presentation with, “Memories-thru-Story
is our Soul’s greatest asset. Thank you kindly for being here with us. We shall
forever share-in-memory. Be-blessed and Be-story!”
The chatter around the tables escalated and Dru saw Eury give her DJ the
thumbs up and the speakers began to roar, and every open space became filled
with party-people. And they did exactly
what Jewellz had instructed them to do – they enjoyed themselves; immensely.
~There are those that create; and there
are those that cherish – Narrative(REALLY)Matters.
