Right Where You Left It

Who I Am

I did something extraordinary.

Something, wonderful, creative, and something that no one I've ever known has done before, and something I never thought I could do.

I wrote a song.

Wrote, composed, and recorded, a song about my senior class. The Class of 2017. Now that may not seem like much to you, but to me it's something special.

I'll explain it to you, my school is somewhat new, and we are it's 3rd senior class of all time. So, because the school is so new to the concept of seniors, they started this tradition where every year, seniors give speeches to the entire school or to the whole 12th grade.

So, when I was told that it is an expectation of every senior to give a senior speech, I came up with the idea to write a song.

I knew it was crazy, and hadn't been done before....and that's why I liked it. Because it was so bold, because it was so creative, and seemed so untouchable, I wanted it to be mine.

I chose a date close to the end of the school year for my senior speech because I have a thing for lasting impressions, i intentionally picked a whole school date to prove to myself that I wanted to do this. May 26. I had no lyrics, no chords, no melody, and no inspiration, but I had an idea, and I knew I could make it happen.

*****

So later on, I actually started my senior year, and I joined the yearbook committee, and I wanted to be part of everything. Luckily, I was.

We had a group that basically designed every piece of senior clothing that we wore, starting with our senior shirts, and since there are so many artists in my senior class, designing the shirts would be a cinch. One girl came up with ideas and sketches for the shirt, and they all had one common phrase, "Almig17ty" (Almighty '17. As in, the Almighty Class of 2017). I liked that phrase, it flowed really well and fit the way we as a senior class see ourselves as a whole. Well, when it came around to the actual senior shirts that we wear, the phrase was omitted in favor of something a bit more "scholarly"

THE YOUNG WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP SCHOOL OF BROOKLYN

SENIORS

Is what it says now. Far from the original design, and so the phrase left the shirt, but not my brain.

And so I don't remember what day it was, or how long it was after we designed the shirt, but I do remember, that I opened the memos in my phone and began something brilliant, as I typed:

We are the Almighty '17

*****
I had two verses and three choruses, and an almost completed song, when there was a mishap, in the form of a flame.

But that's another story, nevermind, anyway, my phone was destroyed, ans I lost all my lyrics.

I got a new phone the next day, and I tried to put all my lyrics in the new phone before I forgot them, but it was too late, I had already forgotten most of it. Only remembering one verse and 2 choruses. And nothing came to me for months, and I just gave up.

*****

I never forgot the melody though.

It stayed in the back of my mind the entire time, even when I tried to move on with new songs, that always came back to me.

I started a new song for my senior speech, and the lyrics just felt so forced and stale, and the melody refused to be created. I honestly contemplated not doing the senior speech, because they dont really do anything if you don't.

But I was home, supposed to be asleep, (like I was literally laying under the covers with the lights off and evrything), and I told myself to try with that melody one more time.

It didn't work.

But what I did do was open up that old song, and started humming the melody, and singing the lyrics, and I said, "I'm gonna finish this song" so I did. For months I couldn't think of a single lyric, and in that one night I finished the song.

I showed the lyrics to my music teacher, and he concluded that these were better than the original piece I was working on. However, because the lyrics had been finished literally two weeks before my senior speech (which was today, btw) I wasn't confident in my ability to remember them, so I decided to record the song instead of my initial plan to perform it.

But a video of what?

Of my senior class of course!

*****

My senior class is great, they're crazy, funny, and all they like to do is dance. Even I dance (just not in front of a bunch of people)

The issue with that is actually recording them, because the video was supposed to be a surprise, if they saw me recording them, they would ask why, and I really didn't want to tell them, because like I said, 'surprise' .

So I tried to record them without them noticing, but whenever there were recording worthy moments, I couldn't just whip my phone out, and record, because they would notice.

So I used the videos that I had of my friends, but I needed to fill up 2:45, since that's how long the song was, and I didn't know what to do about recording.

So I asked two of my classmates if they had any videos of THEIR friends, cuz I only had videos of MY friends, and like I predicted, one of them asked me why, but it was no issue, because she didn't tell anyone. The other girl gave me more than I needed, and the song was complete as well.

I asked 5 teachers to speak about my senior class, even though only 4 of them had the time, once that was recorded and over, the video was complete!

I am very proud of my creation, even though I could NOT be there to see the audience reaction. I had some heart palpitations, so I had to leave.

But when I returned, it was to a nice hearty applause. So I guess they liked it too.

I am proud of my senior class, and what we have become, and what we WILL become, and I think it shows.

So who am I?

I'm a member of The Young Women's Leadership School of Brooklyn's Class of 2017, the best class of all.