# data[].attributes.body
I began taking piano lessons from a very young age and when I was seven I discovered the artist David Lanz

I loved his music and was inspired by him as a young piano player. I asked for his books for Christmas & when I got them I began learning his pieces

My piano teacher assigned me a piece by him called “Behind the Waterfall”, which I learned and played everyday. I mastered it and loved the piece

My teacher discovered he was coming to perform a small concert at a local piano store

She got us tickets and reached out to him directly telling him me and her other student Austin absolutely adored him and had both learned pieces by him and that we were so excited to attend his concert

He emailed back and asked her if we would play him the songs!

We agreed. It was so exciting but so nerve wracking

Austin and I both attended his concert and got to play him the songs we had learned. He was so kind and humble and listened so intently to both of us. He signed our books and acknowledged our hard work and told us both we were talented musicians. Coming from him, this meant so much and I’ve carried his words and encouragement with me since

This is the only picture I could find! I'm still looking for the video my mom has somewhere & will upload it when I find it

# data[].attributes.body
This story took place last summer

My mom was at work and I was home alone

I was in the kitchen cooking pizza for dinner for both of us. Our kitchen has a window in it that gives us a view right onto our front porch and vice versa

I had turned my back to the window to take the pizza out of the oven when I heard pounding at the front door.  I turned around quickly and realized the blinds were open giving me a clear view of who was out there and also giving them a clear view of me

All I could make out was a quick glimpse of a man, wearing a dark hoodie. His face was mainly hidden by a bandana and the hoodie, and he had pressed himself up against the window looking in at me. He began yelling at me to open the door

I immediately dropped the pizzas from being so startled and dropped to the floor

I moved out of view from the window all while he continued yelling and staring at me. I was scared out of my mind and the possibility of the situation becoming dangerous became apparent to me. I began to move slowly over to the bathroom all while keeping my eyes on the door, fearful that at any moment he would knock it down. I moved to the bathroom and called my dad. I whispered into the phone and began crying when I heard the man banging on the door again, but this time he was at the back door. He had moved from the front to our backyard. My dad called the police for me and they told him they were on their way to our house

The banging continued for a while before it stopped altogether. The man had seemingly left.  I stayed in the bathroom sobbing and waiting for the police until they finally showed up. My dad called my mom and she came home from work immediately and arrived soon after the police came.

We had security cameras they looked at and we could see the moments the man entered our backyard and was attempting to open our door. We saw the moment he walked up to our house and looked in the window. I was completely terrified watching them and my mom was extremely upset

The police took a report and interviewed some of our neighbors about any suspicious activity or to see if they had experienced anything similar or seen the man

I didn’t have a very clear description of him because his face was covered and he had a hoodie on, and the security cameras didn’t help much either. They only highlighted the clothes he was wearing and parts of his face.

The police eventually left and assured us there would be more patrols in the area that night. My parents are divorced so it was just my mom and I at the house. I was convinced he would come back and seriously hurt us that night. I was mortified that he wasn’t caught and I would have to live with that uncertainty. I begged my mom to let my dad stay with us that night or make my brother come stay with us. She reassured me we would be safe. My mom has always been strong willed and she assured me that we would be okay and that she could protect us and that we were strong. I didn’t trust enough. I stayed up all night. Completely petrified and convinced I would eventually hear him breaking in. I had never experienced worry like that or that sense of dread that something horrible could happen to my mother and I that we would be unable to defend ourselves. I was convinced something horrible might happen

I developed a huge anxiety over being alone and of the nightime. I was consumed in thoughts that he might come back. After three restless nights we received a call from the police that a man had been caught at lookout mountain that matched the description and the image of the man (his hoodie and clothes were the main indicator that he was the same man) that was at our house and that we saw on the security cameras. They said they had caught him because they were searching the area for a man that had escaped the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center. He was a sex offender and had escaped the center that same morning the incident happened. He escaped through an open window. We live in Golden, right near lookout mountain and the center is about five miles away from us. The police were certain this was the same man and had contacted us to let us know he was in custody again.

I still experience a lot of fear and anxiety from this situation, but I am thankful he was found. It helped comfort me a little but it took me the whole summer to get back into a normal sleep schedule and to feel okay by myself at home. This is one of the craziest things that's ever happened to me and I get scared telling the story sometimes.

# data[].attributes.headline
Traditional Storytelling: The Fox & the Cat

# data[].attributes.subject
Traditional Storytelling: The Fox & the Cat

# data[].attributes.body
Cat meets fox in the forest

Cat feels inferior to fox

Fox boasts about his superiority and skills he has compared to the cat

Cat says that she can spring herself into a tree and fox mocks her and says he has more useful skills and is a master of arts

Hunter comes along with dogs

Cat springs into tree but Fox is seized by the dogs

Cat watches and tells Fox that if he had been able to climb like her he would have been saved

Open ended question: Do you think that if Fox had appreciated Cat's skill (no matter how insignificant it might have seemed) & asked her to teach him he would still be alive?

# data[].attributes.body
Three brothers on adventure. Youngest named Simpleton. Older two mocked him for his simplicity

Simpleton protects ants, ducks, and bees from brother’s harm and greed

Brothers arrive at castle and meet an old man

Old man sends the eldest two brothers (each by themselves) on a quest to complete three tasks. Brothers failed to collect all the pearls and were turned to stone

Simpleton went to complete the task and the animals he had saved before provided him with the necessities to complete the tasks

Simpleton found all the pearls, found the key, and identified the right princess

Simpleton married the princess and became king

Do you think that Simpleton's kindness towards the animals benefited him?
Why do you think the animals didn't help his brothers?

# data[].attributes.body
Our neighbor Joe had a go kart that he let the kids use in the neighborhood with parents permission. He was like an uncle to all of us and always had interesting and exciting ways for us to play. There were also a ton of kids in our neighborhood and we were all close in age, so we all played together

My usual neighborhood bestie Midori couldn’t play

Her brother Anthony could play and we decided to hang out and ask Joe to use the go kart

No one else in the neighborhood could come out and play with us, so out of boredom and in search of something exciting to do, we decided to tie a rope to my scooter and then to the back of the go kart. We planned for Anthony to drive the go kart while my scooter and I were attached to and pulled from behind

We were off!

It wasn’t long until this plan failed and I had fallen and scraped up my knees and outer thighs horribly

I was bleeding profusely and the skin on my knees and thighs were essentially gone. My knee was split

Anthony took me home and I had to go get stitches at the hospital

My parents and his parents were not happy but eventually forgave us. With time and a brief talk about go kart safety we were eventually allowed to ride the go kart again

My parents and his parents were shocked we decided to try out something so silly and dangerous, but now whenever our families reunite we laugh and reminisce on our childhood stories in the neighborhood

# data[].attributes.body
-Senior year of high school

I was supposed to go to homecoming with my boyfriend. --He was in college at the time

-He was supposed to meet me and my friends at a park for pictures

-My friends and I were all there, dressed up and ready to take pictures. All of our families were ready to start picture taking

-My boyfriend had not showed up, he was late. I was extremely embarrassed and encouraged my group to start pictures without him

-He never showed up and my best friend decided to ditch homecoming for me and with me to find him and see what he was up to

-We went to his dorm and caught him with another girl

-Even though this story was upsetting at the time, it’s now one of my favorites. My friend and I became detectives to find out where he was and what he was up to and it definitely strengthened our friendship. We are still best friends to this day

# data[].attributes.body
My friend Oliva and I were five when this happened

At the Arvada Centre with our moms

We wanted to ride the elevator alone and our moms let us

We had to go down ONE floor

We pressed the button and went down to the first floor where our moms said they would meet us. We were alone in the elevator just us two

For some reason at the bottom the elevator doors didn’t open even though we had moved down a floor and come to a complete stop

After a couple minutes of the door not opening, we began banging on the door and both of us began sobbing. Our five year old selves interpreted it as the end of us and that we wouldn’t see our moms again. We were so upset and we were banging at the door and pressing buttons

Eventually and randomly, after a couple minutes the doors opened and we rushed out to our moms. Both of them were so confused about why we were so upset and why it had taken us so long to come down one floor

We were very dramatic together as kids and this is a funny story now to us because of how strongly we reacted to a simple malfunction the elevator must have had

# data[].attributes.body
My dad told me this story about a childhood memory he has

My dad was seven and enjoyed climbing trees when he played outside

He climbed a tall tree and when he made it to the top he came face to face with a bee hive

He began messing with the beehive out of curiosity

The bees came out and swarmed him, stinging him all over his face

He fell out of the tree and broke his ankle in the fall

He had to go to the hospital and his face was completely swollen

He told me that after that he was too scared to climb trees for a while, but eventually found the courage to continue climbing trees

He told us this story a lot growing up and we would tell our friends. I think we liked how crazy it was. My brother and I loved climbing trees and it didn’t phase us too much. I still have never been stung by a bee.

# data[].attributes.body
Miller has a beautiful daughter and promises the King she can spin straw into gold

King asks the girl to spin him straw into gold and promised death unless she does so

The girl is desperate and miserable because she can’t spin straw into gold. Little man enters the room and promises to do it for her in exchange for her necklace. Man spins straw into gold

King demands more and the girl give the little man her ring to spin more gold

King wants the girl to be his wife and spin more gold. The girl doesn't have anything left to offer the little man, so he requests her first born child in exchange to spin more straw into gold

King marries the girl. Year later they have a child and the little man reappears and demands the child

Queen and little man make a deal that she must figure out his name. She does and he dies out of rage

Do you think it was fair of the Queen to trick Rumpelstiltskin? Is a deal a deal? Or was it unfair that he demanded her first child

# data[].attributes.body
A huge snow storm hit

Neighbor kids, my brother and I all got to stay home from school because it was a snow day!

One of our neighbors literally had a snow plow and decided to pile all the snow into a big pile on the “island” in the middle of our neighborhood

Every parent helped and every kid helped make a snow fort with the piled up snow

There were canal ways that parents and older kids dug out for people to crawl through

I guess they figured it was sturdy enough and it held so all the neighbor kids got to go inside and crawl through the snow canals

We played all day and pretended to be a snow empire

# data[].attributes.body
Watching tv when I looked outside and noticed the sky beginning to turn a greenish color

Rain began, it was slow at first but then began gaining power

The rain was incredibly loud and the lightning began

The thunder was deafening and the rain and lightning was constant and coming down hard

It began to hail and my tv show was interrupted by a tornado warning

My family, my brother’s friend (over for a sleepover), and I ran into the basement. I was six so I grabbed all of my stuffed animals thinking they would be swept away if a tornado touched down

The wind was so powerful two windows were shattered

The tornado didn’t touch down where we lived but there was a tornado that touched down in another county

It was so scary and my first and most memorable tornado experience

# data[].attributes.body
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was a book I enjoyed reading during my elementary school years. I found the stories both entertaining but really scary sometimes. I like the story titled Harold. This story was about two men named Thomas & Alfred who worked on a cow farm & stayed there for multiple months at a time. Because of boredom, they decided to make a scarecrow the same size as a regular man. The scarecrow was inspired by a man they both despised & they made it to look like him. They made the scarecrow & then hung it up in the day & brought it home in the night. Sometimes they talked to it & sometimes they hit it out of any anger or frustration they were feeling. One time they heard Harold make a noise. They noticed Harold would move or make noises & they both realized he was growing. They were then frightened when Harold began physically moving. One day they couldn't find Harold, so they went about their day until they realized they had left something back at their house. Neither of them wanted to go back so they drew straws to see which one had to go back. It was Thomas. He never returned & the story is that Harold killed him. I liked these stories but was kind of surprised they were in elementary school libraries. All my friends & I loved scaring ourselves.

# data[].attributes.body
My graduation was certainly one to remember. I was incredibly sick the whole week leading up to graduation & the day of graduation I was feeling the worst I had felt all week. I still had to attend of course.... this was the most important moment in my education thus far & my whole family was attending, including my aunt who had flown in from Texas. I went feeling absolutely miserable & endured the ceremony coughing & sweating. I made it through my walk on stage & receiving my diploma & eventually the ceremony ended. My family, my best friend, & I had planned on going out to sushi afterwards & we decided to keep those plans. I made it through the dinner & then went home & went straight to my bed. I ended up getting really sick after a while. I brushed it off as the sickness I had been experiencing all week. BUT my best friend called me telling me she swore she had food poisoning. My family members also began feeling sick & experiencing food poisoning symptoms. We then realized we had all fallen victim to bad sushi & had food poisoning. So while my high school graduation was an incredible achievement, my main memory is of being sick & then my whole family & I getting food poisoning. It is a fun story to tell now.

# data[].attributes.body
I'm having trouble remembering a good story today so I thought I would go ahead & share one of my favorite sources of stories. My mom bought this book for my brother & I when we were babies & we grew up reading these stories. I was really obsessed with this book & made my dad read me stories from it every night when I was young. I remember re reading the stories over & over again when I learned how to read by myself. It's a very timeless book.  I don't have the book anymore sadly but it had so many great stories. The illustrations are beautiful & all the stories were so entertaining to me . I remember a couple but sadly not well enough to retell. I wouldn't do them justice. I  think you would really enjoy this book too Professor!

# data[].attributes.body
My high school theatre club decided to put on Les Misérables as our spring production. I had never been involved in a theatre production before or been interested. I heard through a friend that our music teacher was searching for piano players to be in the pit. I decided to audition randomly & ended up being casted as a pit member for the production. I met a ton of new people I had never interacted with before & it was such a memorable experience. It was a huge commitment though & I went to practices everyday after school for hours. We worked for months & ended up putting on six shows that were all sold out. I was blown away by the talent of all the musicians I met, the actors & actresses on stage, & the stage crew. They were all so talented & hardworking & I enjoyed being in that environment. Our shows were a success & we ended up being nominated for 10 Bobby G awards. I had never been to an event like the Bobby G's & it was absolutely incredible. Our orchestra ended up taking home the award  for " Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra". I was really thankful to be apart of something like that & to work with our conductor. I learned so much about music technique & I feel like he helped me improve & grow a lot as a musician & as a person.

# data[].attributes.body
I remember going to Lakeside amusement park frequently with my family & friends during the summer when I was growing up. I remember one time I insisted on riding the big roller coaster with my brother when I was six. I was absolutely clueless to what I was getting myself into. I was terrified the entire ride & clinging on to the handlebars. I seriously thought I was going to die. Or at least fly off. Or die from the sheer speed of the ride. My six year old self was blown away by how fast & steep the drops were. My stomach did weird flips. My brother thought it was hilarious of course. I love that ride now. I was just there last summer & I noticed the Cyclone game & remembered playing it when I was younger at Lakeside and at the hockey rink my brother used to skate at. I snapped a picture of the Cyclone because I figured at some point the game wouldn't be around anymore or manufactured & I wanted to remember what it looked like.

# data[].attributes.body
One time my friend & I took a night time hike & we saw these two deers in the distance. I snapped a picture because I thought the light & their silhouettes looked so cool. We ended up continuing on our hike but when we came back they were still there. We ended up sitting down for a bit & watching them. Much to our surprise the deer slowly started making their way down the hill. They stopped & grazed a couple times but eventually they were so close to us. Not even 10 feet away. We just sat there & watched them until they eventually ran off.

# data[].attributes.body
My Friend Hunter: I met Hunter my sophomore year of high school & we have remained friends since. She has a huge heart & one of my favorite stories to tell comes from this football game we went to together. I helped her friend plan a "promposal" to ask Hunter to be his date to senior homecoming. I had never seen Hunter so happy & I become overwhelmed with sentiment thinking about that time. Our senior prom was really memorable & Hunter still talks about it. She was the reason I became interested in majoring in special education.

# data[].attributes.body
Whenever I'm sad I take really long walks. I went through a major depressive episode this past winter & my dad would often encourage me to begin taking walks again . With a lot of encouragement, I finally made it out of my room & house & took a hike in the snow. It was so beautiful outside & at one point I just sat down & watched the snow fall & let myself be completely still. The point of me telling this story to other people would be to remind them that myself & a lot of other people can understand deep sadness, but to also remind them that there's a lot of beauty out there to still be seen.

# data[].attributes.headline
When I was four years old my family & I went hiking. As soon as we got there my brother & I began playing & running around. After only five minutes of being there I tripped & fell face first into a rock. The rock punctured right into my eyebrow & I had to be rushed to the emergency room where I had to get stitches. My parents said my brother was more upset than I was and that I barely cried. 

# data[].attributes.subject
When I was four years old my family & I went hiking. As soon as we got there my brother & I began playing & running around. After only five minutes of being there I tripped & fell face first into a rock. The rock punctured right into my eyebrow & I had to be rushed to the emergency room where I had to get stitches. My parents said my brother was more upset than I was and that I barely cried. 

# data[].attributes.body
Sol's 19th birthday: Sol's 19th birthday was a memorable one. We all saved up enough money to road trip to Utah together (mainly because her boyfriend lived out there, but  also because we wanted to see a new place together). We ended up taking a really difficult hike & Aislyn fell & sprained her ankle. Our parents weren't happy but carrying her down the mountain is now a hilarious story.

# data[].attributes.headline
This was the picture taken right before I performed my bar routine. My coach was amping me up for my routine. It was a competition & halfway through my routine I dislocated my shoulder. I have a ton of stories about my gymnastics career & competition days. I loved gymnastics but my career was ended short due to many injuries 

# data[].attributes.subject
This was the picture taken right before I performed my bar routine. My coach was amping me up for my routine. It was a competition & halfway through my routine I dislocated my shoulder. I have a ton of stories about my gymnastics career & competition days. I loved gymnastics but my career was ended short due to many injuries 

# data[].attributes.headline
I was out shopping with my mom when we decided to randomly visit an animal shelter. I fell in love with a cat there & adopted her. She is my closest companion

# data[].attributes.subject
I was out shopping with my mom when we decided to randomly visit an animal shelter. I fell in love with a cat there & adopted her. She is my closest companion

# data[].attributes.headline
The most beautiful hike I have ever been on. Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand 

# data[].attributes.subject
The most beautiful hike I have ever been on. Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand 

# data[].attributes.body
Performing at Carnegie Hall with my choir was a standout moment of my high school career.

# data[].attributes.headline
Visiting a llama & sheep farm in New Zealand. My brother & I fed them & helped take care of them for a day. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Visiting a llama & sheep farm in New Zealand. My brother & I fed them & helped take care of them for a day. 