{"id":2054,"date":"2015-04-20T17:13:43","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T21:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/?p=2054"},"modified":"2015-04-20T17:15:02","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T21:15:02","slug":"coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"COMING HOME"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"michael\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Coming back to the place I\u2019ve called home for six years feels extremely strange after being gone for two. Especially when I\u2019m on the other side of things. I\u2019ve watched my home change before my eyes in so many ways. I\u2019ve withstood violence and almost daily fights, helped it grow and become the Law and Public Policy Magnet High School that we took pride in, and aided in the normal teenage rebellion. I\u2019ve watched people come and go through my life and leave permanent scars as well as memories I\u2019ll cherish forever. And then, when I thought my time was up and I wouldn\u2019t have a chance to return, I came back.<\/p>\n

My experience is a strange one to say the least, because I know so much more than I did when I attended Shortridge from seventh grade to senior year. I know how students feel about the Butler Writers, and I now know how the Butler writers feel about the students. I understand why some days absolutely no writing can get done because all you need is a place to relax and be able to breathe. Because certain teachers don\u2019t seem to care, other students make you feel insignificant, you don\u2019t want to go home because you don\u2019t want to see what\u2019s waiting, you want to find a place where you can be you.<\/p>\n

And I now know that that\u2019s okay. It\u2019s okay to be scared, tired, or bored, It\u2019s okay to want to breathe and be able to relax.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why the Butler Writers are here. We\u2019re here to write. But we\u2019re also here to befriend, listen, comfort, laugh with, cry with, and help give a voice to the otherwise voiceless. The Butler Writers are here to make sure the students are heard and to make sure they have a safe place. Some mentors don\u2019t realize it, but just by being at Shortridge we are showing that we care about them and care about their well-being. At least in my case.<\/p>\n

Being on the other side looking back at my old poems that are still on the Exclusive Ink website, I feel pride that I wrote. That I found a way to show my emotions without being violent, hiding everything, or eventually breaking down into tears. Exclusive Ink was my savior in high school. It helped me get through some of the hardest times in my life and it helped me be able to be proud of my abilities. I was able to clear my mind and write down everything I was feeling without being judged for it or laughed at. I was able to stifle the depression building up inside of me and I was able to be happy.<\/p>\n

This is what I think about every day that I\u2019m back at Shortridge. I\u2019m able to help the kids like I was helped, and I know how to now. So this is a thank you to everyone who I\u2019ve ever met through the Butler Writers and Exclusive Ink. Thank you for listening, thank you for caring, thank you for being there for me when I couldn\u2019t even be there for myself, and thank you for being there for everyone else. We at Shortridge owe you so much gratitude. And I can finally say that I\u2019ve come home.<\/p>\n

Michael Brown is a junior Digital Media Production major and a graduate of Shortridge Magnet High School.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming back to the place I\u2019ve called home for six years feels extremely strange after being gone for two. Especially when I\u2019m on the other side of things. I\u2019ve watched my home change before my eyes in so many ways. I\u2019ve withstood violence and almost daily fights, helped it grow …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":624,"featured_media":2055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37038],"tags":[],"coauthors":[265091],"class_list":["post-2054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bu-tutor-reflections","column","twocol","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2054"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2057,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions\/2057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2054"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/wits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}