Nobel Prize in Literature Acceptance Speech

Albert Einstein once said that “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”. His words speak volumes to me because knowledge is such a tantalizing aspect for me. I crave to know, to understand, and to discover the secrets that life has to offer.

Even as I child I have always loved the written word. I love the compostition and the melody that a string of words can become. It is like music to me. I remember waking up at night with a story on the tip of my tongue. I would jot down notes but when the morning light came I could never truely remember and my notes were always a crazed and jumbled mess. But one night three years ago I woke up with a story that haunted me. I couldnt sleep so I got up and began to write. The words poured out of me and took shape. At the time I thought it would be just another one of my half remembered stories that lost their lure with the dawn.

I did not realize what an incredible journey it would become. My book grew and took on an entirely new personality; it became this incredible world of people and lives that I wished I was apart of. I wrote my book in the prospective of how I as a left-brained artistic individual saw the world around me. Consequently, it became much more than just a book to me...it became a self discovery. A soul searching experience that has impacted the rest of my life.

My sincerest wish is that as you read it you discovered more about yourself, that you could identify with the characters, and that you found a new way to look at the world. A way that was completely your own. I hope and pray that you will take something valuable from its pages, that you will find yourself in the text, and that you will walk away somehow a stronger person. I ask you to not ask what the world needs, but ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world truely needs is people who have come alive.

When I was told that I had recieved the Nobel Prize in Literature, I could only stand and stare as a million different emotions flew through me. I am so humbled and honored to recieve this award. There are truely no words to discribe the depths of my gratitude. I am in awe and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

What Next?

It is always bittersweet when a chapter of your life comes to an end. You are sad to see it go, but excited for what the future might bring. Although, even with all of the bittersweet moments, life is a journey. A spectacular adventure into the unknown. The true goal of life is embodied in this quote. “To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”
When I started this school year I didnt know what to expect. A persons Junior year is always a hazy uncertainty, for it is not that persons first year of highschool nor is it their last. What I didnt expect was how much time has flown by! I feel as if I blinked and suddenly the year is over and college is staring me in the face with all of its pressures and demands. With only one class at the highschool next year and fifteen credit hours for the fall semester alone at UACCB,I have reached a crossroads. So, although I will not be walking this spring to recieve my deploma, I have also come to the end of the chapter in my life that is highschool.
The second thing that took me by surprise this year is just how much college has dominated every second of my existence since the very first day of my Junior year. It is everywhere I look! In posters on the wall, in the faces of the seniors, and the countless emails and letters I have recieved from different colleges from around the United States. It is also in the way I have approached my grades, my plans for next year, the money I make from my job, and the looming responsibility to make a good ACT score. I cannot escape nor find refuge from the stressful demands of my future.
Lastly, I was surprised by the friends I have made and lost. While friends I thought I would always have have faded away; new people I have never expected to befriend now occupy my days. I have let go of the insistancy to fit in and know the right people, and found a place with people that are like me, a place where I truely belong. Friendship is a strange thing. With all of the people in the world, it is a wonder how a person finds someone who completes their picture. A brilliant soul who lights up their sky and proves that God gives true gifts. When that person touches your heart, you package them away and keep them close.
And so, with time flinging itself by, college blotting out the horizon, and the everchanging cycle of friendship; it is no wonder that this year became a blur. Though the future seems so far away, time appears as if it cant be any shorter...and at this moment with the clock spinning, my world stands still.

Westside Story

Westside story is the award winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The fueding families are represented by two warring New York City gangs-the white Jets led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. The gangs hatred for each other rises until neither can coexist with any kind of understanding. When Riffs best friend (and former Jet) Tony and Bernardos younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love.
Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away together. Then the Sharks and Jets have a war concil where they plan a rumble under the highway-whoever wins gains control of the streets. The rumble goes horribly wrong and Bernardo and Riff get killed. Bernardo is killed by Tony on accident.
Lieutenant Shrank arrives and questions Maria about the events leading up to the Rumble. He knows about the argument, and Maria lies that the boy she danced with was another Puerto Rican. She sends Anita to Docs under the pretense that she is sending her to fetch a medicine for her "headache"--she asks Anita to say she has been detained, explaining she would have gone herself otherwise. Truely she sends Anita to tell Tony (who has taken refuge in the cellar of Docs drugstore) that Maria is detained from meeting him.
But when Anita enters Docs, the Jets attack her, simulating a gang rape. In a horrible rage, Anita delivers the wrong message--she says Maria is dead, shot by Chino for loving Tony. When Doc breaks the news to Tony, Tony leaves the shop in desperate grief, running through the streets shouting for chino and begging him to kill him too.
While Tony is wandering through the playground, he sees Maria. As they run towards each other, Chino appears out of the shadows and shoots Tony. The Jets and Sharks arrive Tony dies in Marias arms. Maria accuses everybody in sight for the deaths of Tony, Bernardo, and Riff. The police arrive. The Jets and Sharks both work together to carry Tonys body while Chino is taken away by the police. Just like in Romeo and Juliet, tragedy has brought the warring gangs to an end.