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"The school does a lot for the community; I'm glad we have it. I don't have anybody graduating this time, but I like to come down and see the grads walk. They do it every year, and it makes me so proud to see them marching by. They're young, and they're trying to better their lives. If I could say one thing to them, it would be this: 'Keep going. Follow your dreams. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it.'"          "I've only been in Memphis a couple of months, so I'm still exploring, but I really like the positive energy here. It's uplifting. People are upbeat and say hi even if they don't know you. When they find out I'm not from here, they 're quick to tell me, 'You need to go see this or that.' I don't know all the places yet, but people have suggested I visit the zoo, Elvis Presley's house, Mud Island, the Riverfront, the Shell, and Beale Street. I think I'm planning to stay a while."  "I moved from one state to another when I was in middle school, and I thought that was hard, but going from high school to college was much harder because I had to be an adult and I was on my own. Things I hadn't really thought about before, I suddenly had to be responsible for, like making my own medical appointments. Before, my mom was like, 'Hey, you need to go to the doctor' and I just said okay, but now I have to deal with that myself. And then there's work. Last semester I had a job at P-------'s which makes awesome pizza, but then I dyed my hair pink. That was against the rules. I couldn't keep the job and have pink hair. I really like it though; it's fun. I've got everything you'd think a stereotypical art kid would have: tattoos, a nose ring, lots of holes in my ears. And I live in the moment, which also does not help in the adult world, but I think that will change. I hope so. I'll learn my lessons. It'll happen."  "When I started art school in Memphis, my mom drove me up and dropped me off. It was really emotional because she has a heart condition and I worry about her. I made her go get the neighbors' phone numbers so I could check on her if she didn't answer when I call. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her. She's my best friend. She's always done everything to give me the world, especially after I was diagnosed with learning disabilities. Because of her, my life has been positive and I've had a lot of good experiences. That doesn't always happen with people in similar situations. She's worked hard to give me what I need."  Taylor McCormick, Artist
"When I was 13, an older boy took advantage of me, and I got pregnant. I didn't know anything about sex and I didn't know what was happening. When my mama found out, she was upset and angry. She felt like I had shamed her, but my grandmama was very kind to me about it. I kept going to school while I was pregnant, trying to hide it, but you can only hide it for so long. I was scared to death and cried every day. I didn't want to be pregnant. I didn't know what would happen when it was time for the baby to be born; I didn't even know where it would come out. And when I finally did give birth---oh, the pain! It was terrifying for such a young girl. Grandmama and a midwife were there with me. My baby and I grew up together, with my grandmama taking care of both of us like we were sisters. It was a long time before my daughter even knew I was her mama. I didn't know how to feed her or bathe her at first. I treated her like one of my dolls; that's the only thing I knew to do. Years after all this happened, I apologized to my mama for what I put her through, but I'm not sure she ever forgave me. I felt bad, but I didn't mean for any of it to happen; I didn't even know what sex was. My daughter graduated from high school, went to college, married, and has children and grandchildren of her own now. She has turned out to be such a blessing to me. "Parents need to be teaching their children about sex. Whenever I get a chance, I tell young girls not to get pregnant. There are worse things that can happen, but having babies too early can stunt your life. You need to get your education and be able to support yourself, whatever happens. Sometimes girls think that if they have a baby by this boy, that he'll stay with them, but he won't; he's done with you then. He's used you, and now he's on to somebody else. Get your education and wait to have children. If you don't, then even if you're grown and married, what happens if your husband leaves you or dies? Then what are you going to do? "I'm so thankful my grandmama was there for me during those early years. She taught me so much. She always said, 'Do things right the first time so you won't have to go back and do them again.' She taught me how to clean and how to cook. I still remember being in the kitchen with her when I was just a little girl, watching her mix up the biscuit dough. I loved how the dough would go through her fingers and how she cut the biscuits out with a salmon can. She was a beautiful lady, and I was close to her all my life."   "I've been a chaplain at St. Jude for 29 years, and I've been honored to walk beside a lot of children and their families. Some people think my job is too depressing, but I don't see it that way. It's true that some patients lose their battle, but many are cured! Some of my former patients now work at St. Jude or ALSAC as nurses, in labs, and public relations. I'd say that a major lesson I've learned in my years in the hospital is that we are resilient. We can endure more than we think we can. There is always potential for gifts to emerge from dark and difficult circumstances. Following a diagnosis of cancer life is never the same, but grace and faith enable us to transcend the experience. Ultimately it is all about relaxing into trust---trust that God walks with and empowers us throughout our journey."  "The most important things I've learned from my mother are compassion and forgiveness. She's had a lot to handle over the years, and she didn't have to respond with forgiveness, but she did. When I faced one of the biggest challenges of my own life, she gave me some simple but powerful words. She said, 'Peace can go anywhere. It can travel across the seas and nothing can stop it.' She meant that I didn't have to hold on to anger anymore; I didn't have to let it control me, and I didn't have to be angry about the choices other people made. I could deal from a place of peace. It was a release for me then, and it taught me how to handle adverse situations and difficult people going forward. Seeing her practice that calm in her own life inspired me to be the person I am today: more tolerant, more forgiving, less judgmental. I've learned not to react to situations. I wait, step back, get perspective, and then respond. I'm in a position of taking care of my mother all the time now. She's 81 years old and is such a blessing to me. I'll never complain about anything I have to do for her. I will honor her."  Tonya's mother, Lillie D:  "Janis Joplin was teased and put down all through her growing-up years. In fact, at one point she was voted the 'Ugliest Man on Campus' by the fraternities at her university. The story of her bullying really struck a chord with me, and I wanted to write a song about how that must have felt. It's called Ugly Girl. I try to be an open vessel for a song's emotion to come through, and sometimes, as in that song, the emotion can be overwhelming. It's not about being the best singer or best entertainer; it's about speaking the truth. The truth will always resonate with someone, and it will be like medicine for the soul."  Ashlee performed at South Main Sounds, 550 S. Main, on April 29, 2016:  Ashlee K Thomas, Singer / Songwriter
Although Ashlee is based in Nashville, TN, she performs frequently in Memphis. Website: AshleeKThomas.info Instagram: Ashlee K Thomas YouTube: Ashlee K Thomas “My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and I firmly believe they passed those traumatic experiences down to us through our culture and bloodline. They had to shut themselves down emotionally in order to survive, but I often wish our family could have been more open with each other. Even now, I wish we could say how we really feel, but it’s gotten to the point where I just have to let some things be. It makes me sad and angry sometimes to think about the closeness we’ve missed. I remember as a small boy, there was a traumatic event in our family and I cried. I was told to stop crying and to be a man, so I did. I haven’t cried in years. There are times when I want to, but then something inside of me says, ‘No Greg. No, you cannot do that.’ It’s ironic, really, because as an actor, it's necessary for me to be vulnerable and emotionally available in the characters I’m portraying. Stella Adler, a prominent acting teacher in the early 20th century, said something along the lines of, ‘An actor, an artist, has a broken heart. They always carry it with them.’ I think that’s true. For the longest time, until I ran across those words, I asked myself, ‘Why do I feel this slight bit of emptiness, this sadness that’s always with me even when I’m happy, even when I’m experiencing a moment of joy? Is a part of me always going to feel discontent? Is there never going to be a day when I wake up and breathe easily and everything is just great?’ When I read what Adler said, I realized the answer was ‘No.’ And that’s okay. I need the good and the bad. I need to be able to experience these sad feelings and this discomfort because it helps me. I think a broken heart is a necessity. I may be happy, but at the same time, right underneath it, the sadness is always there. As I interpret a character, I bring all those experiences with me, and hopefully they help me create a more authentic experience. “You can’t touch everyone, but once I come up with something, once I create something, it’s for me to give away. It’s not about what any particular reviewer thinks. I once told a woman I was in a show with: ‘I wish I could reach everybody,’ and she said: ‘Greg, Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors. Everyone has different tastes. If you go out there and one person gets something from what you did, you’ve done your job.’ Hopefully, I touch at least some of the people who are sitting in those seats and they respond with: ‘I understand where you’re coming from. I know what that feels like. God, I know what that feeling is.’ I still battle when I try to play certain emotions, but I’m learning how to use even the painful experiences in my family to grow in my craft. “Expressing emotions in such an intense way can be very draining. I played Stanley in a recent production of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and it was a difficult role because I do things in the play that I would never do in real life: curse, hit a woman, rape a woman. There were times that I couldn’t have an ordinary conversation with friends or audience members after the performances. I just slipped out the back door and left. I was so depleted that I just couldn’t talk to anyone. It took a while to get back to being myself. But theater is what I love. This has always been my niche, the way I give back to the world.”  "My grandfather was a remarkable man. Looking at him, you would never know that he had gone through what he went through. He was one of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever come across. I try to live my life on a basic principle he taught me. The last thing he ever said to me was very profound. I’ve never forgotten it. He said: 'Always treat people well because you never know what kind of day they’re having.' I can’t live up to that. I still haven’t lived up to that. It’s a hard thing to do, but I try. I try very hard."  Photos below courtesy of Germantown Community Theater    Gregory Alexander Szatkowski's latest role (as of April/May 2016) was Stanley in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire, performed at the Germantown Community Theater, 3037 Forest Hill Irene Rd., Germantown.
"The song I just did [Wine into Water by T. Graham Brown] is specifically about alcoholism but it’s also a metaphor for people coming to terms with the changes they have to make in their lives, whatever those changes are. Most of us don’t come to that place until the world has kicked our tail a little. I’ve been there. I spent a lot of years chasing the dragon, let’s say. Running from the pain---until running from the pain BECAME the pain. And it wasn’t until I came to terms with it and surrendered, that things started to turn around for me. It’s hard to make a change. You have to make up your mind that the old ways are over. But it’s worth it. Oh hell yeah, it's worth it. I wouldn’t be standing here today if I hadn’t done that. There's a lot of support out there, a lot of places where you can get help if you want it. You don’t have to do it alone."  Mike Sawyer & Craig Janis play one Friday evening a month at Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard.  Wine into Water by T. Graham Brown: Wine into Water
You’ve heard a multitude of prayers on my behalf I pray one more is not too much to ask I’ve tried to fight this battle by myself But it’s a war that I can’t win without Your help Tonight, I’m as low as any man can go I’m down and I can’t fall much farther And once upon a time, You turned the water into wine An’ now, on my knees, I’m turning to You, Father Could You help me turn the wine back into water? So many times I’ve hurt the ones I love I pushed them to the edge of giving up They’ve stood by me but how much can they stand If I don’t put this bottle in Your hands? Chorus Tonight, I’m as low as any man can go I’m down and I can’t fall much farther And once upon a time, You turned the water into wine An’ now, on my knees, I’m turning to You, Father Could You help me turn the wine back into water? I shook my fist at heaven for all the hell that I’ve been through Now I’m begging for forgiveness and a miracle from You ‘Cause tonight, I’m as low as any man can go I’m down and I can’t fall much farther And once upon a time, You turned the water into wine An’ now, on my knees, I’m turning to You, Father Could You help me turn the wine back into water? ~ T. Graham Brown |
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