Grand Jury Prize 2014

In December, I went to see The Hobbit: BotFA with my best friend, her husband and my mom. After it was over, I caught up with my sister from a different mister and gave her a letter. A sentiment I'd been holding onto for 12 years. An apology.

I did some stupid, insensitive things when I was younger... well, more stupid and insensitive than is par for the course.

I wanna show you folks something important to me below the break:


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Identities covered to protect the innocent... Although maybe I should have covered my horrifying, dead-eyed goblin face to protect anyone reading this.

That's the only picture I have of me and my best friend. On the left is her husband who, while you can't tell from the photo has a rockin' beard. But the picture was taken long after we weren't sure whether to keep smiling or not, because we didn't know if the picture had been taken yet. So almost everyone ended up looking like we were about to eat someone just out of frame.

I cannot understate how important this was to me. For 12 years I wasn't sure if this person was even still alive, let alone someone who would still think of me as a human being. If I am grateful for anything, it's that I inexplicably still have this person's trust and respect.


Making sure she knew that, and how sorry I was for my past bullshit was crucial to me. I had a lot of dreams and aspirations, but that truth and reconciliation mattered more to me than whether or not I become successful in my chosen field. Now that's I have that, now that it's done... I'm not sure where to go from here.


I'm not sure there's anything really left for me to do.


In any case, I consider this the most important thing that happened to me in 2014.