Dear Losers 🎈, (its an IT reference 😉)
At age 7 I suffered short-term memory loss from swelling of my brain 🧠 after surviving a deadly case of bacterial meningitis. The doctor said it was comparable to falling on my head from a 2-story building. In the years to follow, I would forget my bus number, get made fun of by kids in school because I had to wear my address on a card around my neck, and felt the constant isolation of being different and needing help. I would come home from school feeling trapped because everything that happened earlier in the day was a blur. I was quite literally and figuratively lost in a new, dark world where I felt like I was no longer the smart kid I once was.
At the time I was obsessed with everything Goosebumps and one day stumbled upon a Stephen King book 📖 at my public library in Mason, OH. My Mom (a goddess, a queen, and the coolest person ever) reluctantly checked it out for me. As many of you know, with the help of an incredible neurologist who told me to put everything to music, I became a songwriter after my brain injury and music helped my injured brain to heal. I started to retain new information in the most beautiful, musical way: every math formula, locker combination, and to-do list was put to music and I was constantly singing to myself. What many of you don’t know is that I also fell in love with Stephen King’s stories. His nightmares were always worse than my own and he created this new kingdom for me where I wasn’t such a failure anymore. His characters’ extraordinary powers of good and evil gave me inspiration to move forward. I’ve been a lifelong fan since that day at the library and I wanted to write a tribute to him. Here it is. Thank you, Stephen King. Now, how many lyric references can you find to his stories?
PS: My brain is fine now (well I’ll let you be the judge of that, haha) but I do still get lost. Thanks to the invention of GPS, I don’t worry about it much, 😂 Also: special thanks to my family, teachers, and friends for being flexible when my life literally became a Broadway musical that never ended – and to my wonderful co-workers at the Whippy Dip in high school where I worked, for putting up with me singing all of my orders and being terrible at mopping floors. Also, thanks to Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH for noticing me and to the professors (especially my theology professor) for letting me put so many projects to music.
PPS: If you need extra help in school, I’ve taught many voice lessons based on creating songs in your areas of study. I teach online and I’d love to help.
Much love,
Kelsey Mira