Personal Narrative: Trigonometry

I'm terrible at math. Trigonometry. Algebra. Geometry. Unlike in other subjects, discrete inequalities and irrational functions just don't process in my brain without some form of flaw standing in their way. For as long as I can remember, it was something that hindered my ability to academically accept myself as an equal to my peers, whom I had always been equivalent with throughout our days of pubescent arithmetic. The transition into high school was really when I was met with the discovery that my struggles were greater than many of my classmates. Although I was still taking the highest levels of math possible for my grade, I was set apart in the classroom. I had to work twice as hard to meet the same expectations as my classmates. This is

In specification, musical theatre, and anything involved in being showcased in front of people. From the moment I had done my first show, stepped foot onto the stage, I knew that was where I was meant to be. The blinding beams of the spotlights, the clouding smell of chemicals from all of the hair products and makeup being caked onto faces backstage, and the mic-tape - which five months after a show you can still find in abnormal places, stuck to your underwear even - felt like a home I didn’t know I had. I find solace in performing, in showcasing my talents in front of others and I couldn’t list on both of my hands the amount of things I have learned ever since I started. One of my favorite quotes from a show is from the musical “Curtains,” and it says “Putting on a musical has got to be the most fulfilling thing a person could ever hope to do! You people, you’re all heroes to me,” The truth in it is overwhelming. Show business has taught me leadership, and responsibility. More importantly, it has taught me who I am. Live theatre is raw, it’s real; you can’t hide behind a facade on stage in front of five hundred people. A good friend of mine compared it to something of a similar caliber; he said it’s like when a person loses their eyesight, or is blind, but their hearing increases ten times because they lack that other substance. That is my situation with math and performing; because I am deficient, I find my strength somewhere