Freedom Fighter

Freedom Fighter is a piece that was accepted by The Allegory Project, an art space and exhibition co-sponsored by the Art Matters Artist Co-op and the Rockford Area Arts Council in partnership with In Print. It was on display at the gallery, 505 N. Madison, for eight weeks in April, 2014. The theme was “What makes a story worth telling?”

Freedom Fighter
The summer I was 9 years old,
I stopped wearing dresses,
Tucked my long ponytail up into my cap
And asked people to call me Mark.
I said things like, This sucks!, Crud!, and Shut up.
And I spit.
That’s right, I spit.
I wasn’t very good at it, nothing but air loogies, but I tried, and trying was enough to get me in trouble.
That was the summer I saw the movie, Bad News Bears.
It was also the summer my mother died.
The year was 1976 and the entire nation was rejoicing in their Independence.
Except me.

***

Here is the visual interpretation of my piece.