Honestly, I’ve never gone into deep depression. I wasn’t born with some debilitating disease. So in that way, I’m pretty lucky. I’ve come to learn that I don’t need heart-wrenching memories to keep me going on strong. I try to live my days to the fullest, and even when things start to fall apart, I remind myself that tomorrow is a new day.

This picture is something that took me quite a while to perfect. It represents all the great moments in my life and everything that is important to me. My friends mean the world to me, they’re my inspiration. They are the ones pushing me and giving me ideas to complete a picture for a contest introduced by my all time favorite band. This picture shows all my greatest memories, passions, and desires all represented onto one great cork-board. There’s little things that mean so much to me, like me playing piano, pictures of amazing memories, and of course listening to your music. In my drawing, like in my life, there are hints of All-American Rejects lyrics through out. You guys, front and center, have been a key component in what I do every day. A friend showed me “My Paper Heart” when I was 8, and I instantly fell in love. I suddenly needed to know every song of yours. With every new song I fall more and more in love. I am now 13, and am just beginning to become a true “Kid In The Street” So all those amazing, crazy, unimaginable moments are all starting to unravel before me.

The joys in my life keep my head up high. The times of gut-wrenching laughter and memories of beautiful moments that I’ll never forget. Times of doing things that you’ll possibly get grounded for life if you do. Times of late night calls and early morning foolery. Low falling expectations, but our minds still stay up in the clouds.

So I’m just a girl with a passion. A passion for living life to the fullest.

   

  

I can’t count how many times I’ve stood at the edge of a cliff and thought about jumping. Not to die, just for the thrill of the fall. On September 18, 2011, I was at last able to fulfill that fantasy when I went bungee jumping. I can honestly say it was the most exciting, most freeing moment in my life so far, and the fact I got to share it with some great friends made it even better. We accomplished a 10 mile hike, jumped into pure space, and made some amazing memories I’ll never forget.

I can’t think of anything better to do than write this out. Kids in The Street represents to me, the feeling of going down to a record store and buying a new album and listening to it so much that you wear out the copy.  Who cares if you have to buy a new one?  Allowances are made for that very reason!!  This album is about sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night.  Its about toilet papering the house and jumping in the pool with your clothes on.  There was a time when you didn’t have a cell phone and didn’t have to worry about anything.  What happened to fun and what happened to being a kid?  I’m growing older but its after 4am and I just wanna run down the street screaming.  I’m a kid and I always will be…running the streets and making my parents proud.  I’m 30, but im also 16.

I may get older, but I’m never growing up.  We forgot how to have fun, but its time to go back to peter pan.  It’s time to go back to when a great album could change your life.  Its time to go back to believing in magic.  Take back the street and be a kid.  Kids in The Street. 

 This painting is from an old photo of me at my previous home in Belmar, NJ. Since I moved when I was only four, it is difficult to remember much of what it was like. However, images like these help me recall nostalgic moments from this past environment.

This is me and my best friend 6 years ago! just hanging out and being silly… wish there were more of these moments today… society pushes us to get older and “become something of substance” - looks to me like i had something all along.. a wonderful best friend to just be silly with, our sillyness now is a little more grown up but i do miss these days! Can we just pause for a moment and check out how our hair magically form mullets?

I was shocked even when I was nominated for Prom King. In fact, I was up against the most popular kids in my school, I cant even believe I won. So, it really is a night I would always remember. 

So, I know this isn’t a picture that expresses me, or a video or anything creative, but that’s because I can’t take a picture of something I once had.

I’m currently 16 and my best friend and I have been close since the age of 8. We went to Primary School (Elementary) together but unfortunately we went to separate high-schools. Ever since then, my best friend has built up into a state of depression and is now lost within her own mind. How does this in any way relate? Because I remember being an innocent eight year old. We were the funniest kids in school.
We were the ‘super friends’.
We were the class clowns.
I looked up to her and she was (and still is) my idol. Unfortunately, ever since she merged herself within her thoughts and emotions, I feel as if I’ve lost the one person who I was always sure I had. It sounds so cliché, however she truly is the reason I am who I am today, right now. It’s thanks to her.
I just want to rewind time and relive our childhood. The days when the worst emotion you had was if a teacher got mad because you forgot your homework, and the days where the only addiction that could damage us was the sweet, sweet taste of candy. The worst that it could do to us was get rid of our baby teeth and prepare us for what came next. 

I always see my Primary School on the way into town and everything about it has changed. Visually, they’ve destroyed the mural we created as kids and expanded the building to make room for a new set of childhood memories. Physically, the teachers who taught us calligraphy and our basic understanding of the world surrounding us have moved on to something new.  I fear that if my best friend and I could return back to those days, it wouldn’t be the same. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that every time I look at that school, I hope that there’s still the eight year old girl, filled with laughter and happiness, within my best friend. I’m hoping that somewhere, deep inside, she’s just waiting to be reunited with her physical existence. 
I look at my little cousins, my niece, my nephew, children surrounding me and I envy them so much, they have it so easy. They don’t have their emotions fucking with their head and twisting them up into something new, chewing every ounce memory and spitting them out into the world as a young adult and forcing them to just ‘deal with it’. 

I don’t know - maybe this is not what you’re looking for and maybe this will get lost within the tons of entries that are submitted, but personally, it feels so good sharing my feelings with the group that took away my personal troubles and fixed me. If only you could do that to the one person who means the most to me. 

Good luck with the album, I look forward to reminiscing and losing myself in it. 

I remember being 10 years old and hearing ‘swing,swing’ for the first time evvver and I just wanted to ROCK out my brothers guitar like Nick and Mike Rocked out to ‘swing,swing’. And I didn’t know how to play the guitar. So everyday I’d be on the Internet going on stupid sites that would teach me how to play the guitar. Until this one day, I got so mad that I could’t get the song right that I threw away the guitar and said that I’m just gonna quit. A few months later I met this very smart person who thought me ’ you can’t just be perfect at something from the first few tries, you fail, you fall but you get up and keep on going straight ahead. And so I did. And Today, I wouldn’t say I’m a frkn genius or I’m as good as any other Rockstar out there.. But I’m getting there :) Only 2 more steps ahead of me and I could be a Rockstar in my dreams HAHA! - so thank you guys for inspiring me :) ooxx 

One of my most nostalgic childhood memories is related to my often trips to the boardwalk. Growing up, my mother lived in point pleasant beach, NJ, so when I was a child we would visit here frequently. My fondest memory of point pleasant is it’s arcades. I had literally become obsessed with the crane games to the point where I’d have my mom drive me there every weekend just to play. In my painting, I tried to capture my memory of the guileless fascination I had with such a simple machine. Recalling the ability I once had to purely enjoy such simple things in life, to me, is pure nostalgia.

When I first heard of this, I just knew I would have to enter something eventually. The All-American Rejects has been one of my favorite bands since I was really young, and have influenced who I am now- how could I not tell my story? So here goes nothing.

It was about three years ago. Back then, I used to act, along with a good amount of my friends. We had just finished out final performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We had decided to go out for dinner, as a sort of cast party (except for the fact that we were missing about half the cast). We ended up going to T.G.I. Fridays, and me and my three best friends got a table to ourselves. We spent the night sharing food and laughing at the stupidest things. It was one of the best nights of my life. I didn’t think about what would happen the next day, nor did I think about what I had done before it. I was just having a good time with my best friends.

Sadly, that was really the last good time I had with them. Two of those three ended up forgetting that I existed. I haven’t talked to them since September 11^th, 2011. The third I haven’t seen for a little under a year. I can’t say I regret it, though, because the days I spent with them were some of the best I’ve ever had.

In 1984 about 8 friends and myself rented a large van and went to New Orleans for the best party ever MardiGra! What a blast! We just kinda went without to much prep and just decided to go, it was awesome we partied with alot of crazy people and the bond of all us friends just having hurricanes at the liquor store and seeing all the sites in New Orleans was the best and even getting a few nice beads! It was the best time and alot of cool memories people have to go at least once to experience the party .

It took me time to notice, but wherever I go I look for the light. My parents knew if they left me alone at the house, that when they returned, all the lights would be on. When I found myself studying in Florence 2010, I noticed two lights. The sun waking me in the morning, and the sparkle inside the restaurants during the evening. This photo captures all the light I found in this particular restaurant. Very near my 21st birthday, reminiscing every other day and meeting melancholy, I went out to eat. I could never have afforded the trip without school, which explains how my outdated camera phone could pick up the candles and bulbs in this oaky environment. I always remember sitting in this room of fireflies, and just being happy to sit still before I gained just one more year.

 

 

In my 20 years on this earth I have been through many hard times.  Music has basically saved me. Every song seems to say what I cannot put into words. The first picture was taken at the end of summer. It was one of those nights where the air was just right and the music hits your soul just perfect. A friend and I went for a walk at 9:30 that night and stayed out till almost 1:00 walking around the neighborhoods around our house, laying in the street under street lamps, listening to amazing music, and acting like we were 12. It was an amazing innocent feeling. Taking pictures of my shoes has always been an obsession of mine. I have about 7 pairs of Converse and that is all I wear. I took the second picture while on a drive in the country one day with a friend. We decided to stop on the side of the road and play in the rain. We ended up staying there for about 2 hours jumping in all the puddles and playing in the wet leaves. Oh the places our feet take us…I lost the only person in my life that meant anything to me, my grandfather, in August 2010 one week before i was suppose to move away to college and start a new life. It all but killed me. I went into a dark place when he passed away. The last picture is the most meaningful to me. It was the day I decided to live sober. There was a peaceful grace feeling that washed over me, I felt a whole new outlook on life. Instead of letting the events in my life take over my entire being I decided to let go and let peace fill my soul. I finally realized what it felt like to really live. I am a photographer, painter, artist, music lover and most of all a kid. I will never out grow the kid in me no matter how old I get. All American Rejects have been in my ipod since 2002, Time Stands Still was the first song/music video i saw from them and have loved them ever since! You guys have had such an impact on my life for the better! Thank you for making such passionate music!=]

Live free - fly.