omarnajamspublicprivatewriting: 2012

I'm doing NaNoWriMo and I started writing a Motha Cuttas novel but because that story is so outlined and beaten out in my head, it became distracted and soon started to work against what NaNoWriMo is inteded for: just sitting and writing a f*cking novel.

So I jumped Motha Cutta ship and decided to return to my roots of choosing a name and just writing, hitting fingers to keys, and see where I end up. This novel is to be called "Julie and the End of the World". I have a few ideas as to where it is going, who she will meet and where she will go. But not really. I'm excited to find out. And it begins.

Julie and the End of the World pt 1

Julie had been, up until about two minutes ago, a happy person.

Julie Yang had been born to Michael Yang and Melissa Donavon in the small town of Grass Valley, California. While she was born in a state of the art (at the time, keep in mind this event happened a little under thirty years ago) hospital of Davis University, next to the veterinary clinic (an element of this story that will come back in later), it was the green trees of Northern California that Julie’s young eyes first settled on. And because children, especially new born babies, do have exactly the best eye sight, in her newborn mind she thought the trees were waving to her, welcoming her into our beautiful world. And Julie waved back.

Fun fact: Julie Yang has the record for youngest human to ever “wave”. Unfortunately no one ever saw this and thus, the fact of this specific record is now only known to you. The record of first observed wave is to Tyler Tennyson who was seen at the age of two months waving out a window. Really he was chasing a fly but who are we to take this prestige from a man who eventually amounted to nothing more than the owner of a seasonal Christmas tree farm.

The Yang household was a warm one, filled with love and encouragement. Julie had two older brothers, Richard and Charles, who took to watching over their younger sister. In kindergarten, Julie was asked what she wanted to grow up to be for the yearbook and she answered “a bear”. The next year, in Miss Emma’s class, she changed her aspirations to wanting to be a veterinarian. The class gasped when they heard this declaration, but not because this came as a shock. No, in fact no one was surprised by this announcement or the sentiment behind it. Julie had a kind heart and a cunning, sharp mind. She solved math problems as quickly as she broke up fights between her friends. She knew how to share, how to make someone smile and how to talk to adults. No, the class had gasped because she had used such a big word. When Miss Emma reduced Julie’s occupational aspiration to “animal doctor” the kids all nodded and clapped.

Julie’s middle school and high school pursuits only carried her through this line of sentiment. Every year, she was the associated student body vice-president (never wanting to take the role of president for two reasons: she knew someone always wanted/needed that title more, and because of a small bit of shyness that would later blossom into debilitating agoraphobia into her late twenties). She joined sports teams throughout the year but only those that were true “team” sports. After running cross country, she found the sport to be challenging, yes, but not as supportive as she would have hoped. Also, the team captains were a pair of goofballs that took life, as well as their athletic careers, a little less seriously than she’d like.

Fun fact: these two grew up to become a successful comic book writing team living in San Francisco. One would develop a drinking problem and other would go on to develop a drinking solution. As to what the latter means, I’ll let you figure that out. If you find that can’t, don’t worry, we’ll be revisiting these characters later in the story.

Her athleticism and academic prowess, as well as kindness to teachers (who, in a public school are often treated unkindly both by students and tax payers) encouraged Julie to don Grass Valley High’s “most overall excellent” student award upon graduating. Before moving on through Julie’s life, it is important to note the significance of this award. Julie was the valedictorian or sports captain or prom queen, she was the “most overall excellent”. The valedictorian that year, Leslie Stealer, as well as the handful of sports captains and prom queen, also Leslie Stealer, were folks who felt security through titles like “Associated Student Body president”. Julie, on the other hand, did not care about such titles and thus was never the subject of them. Instead, she yearned for something else. There seemed to be a calling in the back of Julie’s mind, a ticking that she could not shake. She felt it slightly when she was around her proud family, being cheered on at a dinner at the Red Robbin or a family barbecue where her accolades were being displayed proudly by her father.

But that was only a fuzziness of this calling, a luke-warm version of the joy she would feel when she was alone in the woods or sitting by a creek. These were the moments that Julie would truly savor. The quiet of the world. Feeling and listening to the wind drift past her, grazing her as it continued on its journey around the world. The soil, alive with critters of all shapes, sizes and motivations, scurrying about, making the earth beneath her hands truly alive. And of course, the trees, which, even at this matured adolescent age, she believed were waving to her. And sometimes, when she was sure she was alone, she would wave back. It was these instances during which Julie was addressing her calling. And to her, that only solidified her goal to become a veterinarian, one that would win awards (the kind that vets win, if there are any to be won) and save lives, comfort families in their darkest hours and deliver young pups into this world. And so when the time came to apply for college, Julie collected all of her achievements, put them down on paper and asked for a scholarship so she could pursue her dream— no, her calling to become a veterinarian student. This would quell, in her mind, that sensation, that need she felt standing amongst the trees by herself in the forests of Grass Valley.

You should know at this point that two years into her studies, Julie would drop her veterinarian aspirations and instead become a student of poetry.