Ever since Sailor Moon...

It all started with Sailor Moon, that ancient japanese anime cartoon that used to play all the time on TV, that put me on the path towards the arts. I was three, wandering the Toys R Us when I saw the VHS tapes of the said show. Getting one VHS triggered me to get a few more. I was addicted to anime like I was addicted to Barney.

I wanted to dress like them, look like them...

and

I wanted to be a magical girl!

In order to do that I turned to drawing. Drawing myself as a magical girl made it possible for me to be who I wanted to be. I could be anything. Anime, Disney, Barney...I was in love with them all. Now picture this: A little girl dragging around a big, red Hello Kitty bag filled with pens, pencils, crayons and bundles of paper everywhere she goes. That's me.

From experience, I did go to space, I was a mermaid, I danced with the seven dwarfs, I was a "Sailor Scout," I did save the world from aliens a few times, I did capture Pokemon and I was a Pokemon.

My goal was to protect the freakin' world from the evil. 

Keep in mind, that I was young and that these aren't really my goals anymore.

Kinda...

I do want to save the world.

Inspire it.

Change it. 

My parents love telling me stories. My father once told me that he could leave or forget to close the door to our house and nothing bad would happen. He told me that he knew everyone in his neighborhood back then. My mother told me she used to play in the creek by herself. She also mentioned how she used to run around in her undergarments when it rained, along with her friends, to cool off. 

Nowadays, one can't leave their door open or wander off all alone.

Most neighborhoods are not close-knit. 

People can't run around in their undergarments in the rain.

This made me want a world where the number of people who hold doors open for each other is larger than those who don't. The same goes for the number of people who press the open button on closing elevators for people and help pick up posessions of those who trip and....oh, you know what I mean. The list goes on. My childhood fantasies matured to the desire to inspire a movement that will create a new world.

A better world where people will be a little bit more...nicer.

I guess you can say, I wish for peaceful times like the times I hear from my parents. A perfect representation of those times would be"The Little Rascals" or that beautiful movie (and book I might add) "To Kill A Mockingbird." (Gregory Peck, I love you.)

All of this may sound cheesy, but I accept it.

So here I am in the Art Foundation of Virginia Commonwealth University. I am one step closer to changing the world.

It is easy to say to you, Ken Steele, that I am a scholar. A scholar who is interested in pursing a higher form of education to polish her passion for art and change the world for the better.

I am not here by force or using college as a means to escape reality. (Being five/six hours away from my hometown, reality has slapped me quite hard in the face already) Nor am I here solely because, I want a job. I do want to live life off my art, but I want something more than a job.

My resolve is firm.