Valedictorian Speech

I watched the TED talk about spoken word poetry. I wanted to scream I was bursting with excitement and understanding and a desire to write.

A few months ago Antonia shared “How to Be Alone” with me, which was what inspired me to write my own 'spoken word poetry', but at that time I had no idea that that was the style in which I was writing nor that it needed to be performed, out loud in order to be understood, all I knew was that THAT right there was how I wanted to write, THAT right there is beautiful and HOW can I put that much soul and emotion and tell MY story this way?

So I will start with this: I love that I had such a wonderful day. I love that I am so happy. I love that I have spent the last year doing things that I love and I love that I feel so right about everything all at once. When I think about me, my situation, my recent successful planning of a service trip to Nicaragua, my Saturday Hikes, my wonderful life coach, my new goal to spend a semester in China, I cannot help but be conquered by an overwhelming sense of rightness, so right in fact in that if right were not a direction, not a command nor even a verb, it would simply be left to my own imagination, creation, the description of me, Micah, that you never heard. You haven’t heard my story, I know you know, but you yearn, and somehow, in some way, you know me.

I had an interview a few months ago. The interviewer asked how my friends would describe me in one word, my initial reaction, almost response was “Which friend? Which me?” Instead I gave three words: BOLD, creative, elusive FOR ARE THERE not three of me, three personalities residing within one each waiting to exert, to perform to convince the world that I, I AM THE REAL MICAH and I should be the one to meet, greet, recede, receive, I should be the one you know and somehow all three make it, all three are who you know all three are who I am.

Raised by nature, friends with hawks, forts built directly over canals. Now they say DON’T, don’t let your child swim in there the dangers that lurk CAN SHE even swim?! But slow down, listen, feel, for are we not a part of nature, are we not meant to connect, to really explore, create our own adventures?

Did you grow up in the city, that’s okay, for every day I know you explored, you made adventures as you rode to school your very first day NOT on the school bus, you rode the subway. Did you not look, observe, assume the man standing across was following you, out to get you? You made the decision to stand or sit, and sit you did for those ten minutes, for those ten minutes you shared an experience with all who were around you, you connected with every stranger created a personal bond not to exceed the subway city life adventure, personal.

Personal is where some people get, some people shut down. Personal is a bond with that special friend, that one who really gets to know you, still asks questions and nods approvingly when appropriate PUTS YOU in the right and speaks her mind tells you that what you did, wasn’t okay or what you did, that was beautiful you made her day. Because how many strangers do we meet in a day and how many friends do we make in a lifetime? All important, all significant, the friend who knows you close and the cheerful employee who scooped your ice cream (and may I ask how many samples he allowed you before you made your decision? TEN that’s a stranger worth remembering.)

Remember the here, the now, the yesterday and the tomorrow. Remember this year for ALTHOUGH it may not be all you have, what is to come in the next few weeks is all you have left with those around you. These are the people who care nourished you to the capacity of understanding and greatness you know now. Don’t forget that time you spent the day crying in the bathroom, brokenhearted may be one of the best memories you have because, now try to remember and remember good, the friend who sat next to you that entire day, she missed her chemistry final, failed, no repeat from that teacher unless of course you were a Metster from the beginning, if that is the case it was probably your advisor who sat next to you, missed the class on the day of exhibitions and every student passed.


Passing the class is not what is important for we are at the end, the end of our Met careers. I feel passionately that straight A’s are not what make a person smart, smart is not even a good description, comparison of two students, and when two Met students are expected to be compared by smart and not smart, chaos is sure to ensue. Our minds are not two-dimensional, able to be written down on paper in a few short sentences, but rather a labyrinth that only David Bowie holds to key to, if even him. Your mind will take you places, adventures, horrors, that you never even thought possible. Learn to appreciate, reciprocate PAMPER your mind with philosophy and deep reading. Your mind has patterns, observed and unobserved; your mind is sporadic, unreadable; your mind is the difference between Mozart and Stephen King. Your mind can never be put to sleep.

Embrace that! Go out in the world (you know that place you’ve had internships in, the last two, three years? Yes that one, it’s real!) Get out there, make yourself, break yourself, fail and succeed. For every wrong there is a right and three left turns make a right….right? Write your story, create your own reality, as Laura Davis told me she heard someone else say they had read somewhere in a book of quotes, “Expect the best, prepare for the worst.”

Dear June

For some, the adventure is coming to an end.

For others, it is just beginning.

Either way, we are all packing our vintage suitcases

and getting ready to say goodbye, or hello.

Embrace the Unexpected

Learning and knowledge. Travel and culture. New things, old things.

Comfort zones exist only to be broken, to give a reason to try harder, try new, try old, try what you find repulsive. Break down those walls, experience the world and the world shall be yours.

Do exactly what you never imagined yourself doing rather than exactly what you've always wanted to do. Look at it this way: every person to ever exist in your dreams, whether you knew them in that dream or not, are people you already know or have met; the ONLY way to introduce new faces, new people, into your dreams is to meet new people!

So apply that to the world. How can you want what you don't know? You can't, so rather, go out and experience what you don't know directly, live in the moment, make decisions on a whim because YOU NEVER KNOW what you never would have known.

La Chureca

This is where I'm going in just a few short weeks. La Chureca in Managua, Nicaragua is the largest dump in Central America. I'm not going to the dump specifically, but I do hope to visit it! I'm going on a service trip to Managua, where I will help build a house, work alongside doctors in a hospital, and work with kids in a school. I'll also get to hike a volcano and camp at the peak and visit the Pacific west coast of Nicaragua and camp on the beach! Staying with a host family should be quite the experience, especially with the communication barriers.

Speaking of communication barriers, I HAVE TO LEARN MANDARIN. When I get back from Nicaragua it will be time to expedite myself, my visa, and my suitcases to CHINA! 

Yes, China. This decision was made spur of the moment today. I will be going as a volunteer English teacher with International Language Programs. Not sure what's in store for me, not even sure what city I'll be assigned to, but I'm going. It's official.

I will get to ride one of these, my soul-animal.

pick-a-flavor

I am back in Idaho, for now.

Today was my last first day of school, although I have yet another last first day of school this year.

Best Friend and I accidentally looked way too cute and coordinated. I don't mind!

This morning Best Friend was nagging me about taking photos today, and I was mean and blew her off because I am now insecure about my camera and never want to look at it again until I have a new one. Yes, I'm that stubborn. So, as you can see, I did absolutely nothing to document this most special of days.

So like I said, Best Friend and I were cute. Well we got our photo taken for the yearbook today for being so darn cute. That's kinda cute, right? And did we get a photo for us? NOPE.

I said "hi" and "goodbye" to numerous amounts of people, friend and foe alike. (Well, I actually only dislike one person, and I only dislike her out of my own pride because I will never be able to admit that Lettie Rosdahl didn't do anything to me that is worth hating her for. I also enjoy being able to say that I have an enemy, an arch nemesis of sorts.)

Best Friend doesn't have a seventh hour, so she and I went on a date with Gramma Pattie! We went to the liquor store, because what date is complete without going there? No, I actually needed a couple empty boxes, and that's where you can get them. And then, WAIT FOR IT...

We went to pick-a-flavor!

Pick-a-flavor is actually Blazen Burger, the best restaurant in Nampa. It is a cute, little, very little, locally owned mom and pop restaurant. They have amazing milkshakes, not to mention they're only $1 after 8pm nightly. 

Best Friend and I always go there to order pick-a-flavor shakes. Brad, the owner, knows that this means he picks the flavor and surprises us! It's great, really, except when he's not working and one of the teenage boys goes crazy on our pick-a-flavor and we must simply pretend to enjoy it.

Today we were getting real food there for the first time, so amidst all the excitement I forgot to order pick-a-flavor and spent the extra time to decide on a Reeces milkshake. Brad caught me, though, and said he had been thinking about us and how when we came in the next time he would give me a Reeces one. 

This tells me two things:

1. I should be a mind reader, or at least a hypnotist.

2. We've become a landmark of a sort to Brad! It's like a game: he decides what he'll give us next time we come in, and when we order, he know immediately what we'll order. 

Well, we accidentally ordered smalls, instead of junior shakes. They were so large and melted so quickly we may as well have just dumped them on the floor. We asked if we could mop the floor, but he wouldn't let us and gave us a wash towel instead. 

I'll miss pick-a-flavor. 

The Power of One

I miss best friend.

My necklace is sitting on my floor at home.

It fell off while I was packing and I

didn't notice till I was on my way to the airport.

Our Best Friend necklaces are from a museum,

Boise Art Museum.

They're special.

I wonder how many people, on average, each of us crosses paths with and affects in our lifetime. How many people have changed my life? How many lives have I changed?

The "Wright" Way

At EFY I met Dylan and Tate Wright, two super awesome twins. I went to church with them yesterday and loved it! They have this "extragalactic" family, all spunky and artsy with amazing style. I have officially adopted myself into this family.  <3

We hung out at their house after church, and their friend Brinlee came over. Turns out, Brinlee is a super cool girl.

We took photos.

Tate and I had our first argument.

Let our lights within shine.

I accidentally made Gilbert a bit queasy.

I jumped out of a tree house and dramatically ran through a field.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday.

I am going to church with them again next week.

Jaden has two girlfriends here in New York

Kiki, his "#1 Girlfriend"

Aren't they cute together?  ;)

Kristen, Jules' daughter. He was finally able to find a girl his own age!

Jaden also met a girl at the beach named Sailor, and they almost kissed. 

They hula hooped on the beach together, how could it not be love at first sight?