Teenage Lexicon

Above anything else that I am, I am a storyteller. I am prone to devoting myself to the worlds in my head, as most storytellers are. Like all writers, I tend to commit my stories to words—language is my primary medium. But it isn’t my only. This is why I am enthralled by architecture: I see buildings as another medium for storytelling. But, unlike books or paintings, buildings don’t stop becoming something once they’ve been built. Once started, they continue to tell themselves.  They are a vehicle for my stories—they often help propel them in new directions I wouldn’t have otherwise deemed possible. My buildings are as much a part of The Knowers as my books.  Skylar's House - Final Enter Me, sophomore year. The Knowers is going through major overhaul. The Eminence isn’t born yet. I think I want to be a marine biologist, I have no idea how to draw, I have to take Scripture studies for my Catholic school’s religious curriculum.  Yes, the Bible can be ...

At the end of my junior year, I met my future art teacher. Yes, I had been at that school since I was an actual three-year-old, and I had barely stepped foot in the art room. All my fine arts elective credits came from orchestra and creative writing, so I never needed to take any additional credits. Besides, I never saw myself as an artist. I could draw manatees and buildings. That’s it.  However, through a series of unusual events that I can’t quite remember, I ended up in the art wing office, pointing to a college poster on her wall and saying, “Hey, I’m applying there!” “How haven’t I met you yet?” she said. From there, we got to talking about how I want to go into architecture. I explained how I’d done a summer course the previous summer and had fallen in love with it. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I couldn’t wait. Then she recommended me for AP Studio Art. It was vital that I familiarize myself with the studio setting, she told me, and art skills...