RE Log Spring 2021

My love for drama and musical theatre has been strong as long as I can remember. I watched A Goofy Movie a bunch of times when I was three or four. I memorized the script of the whole movie. My mom was amazed. She wanted to make sure I could pursue that passion. When I got older, I remember begging her to find any art program I could do after school. I’ve done Broadway competitions. I’ve danced and sung competitively in Orlando, in New York. My dream is to be a movie star or Broadway star, anything in the arts or film. When the pandemic hit and everything shut down, I was mad. I was saying to myself: The theater has been my second home. How am I supposed to do drama? Am I supposed to just read Shakespeare and call it a day? Am I supposed to bring a theater to my house, with all of these loud people in my family? There’s no stage, there’s no audience, there’s nothing. But at the end of the day, I realized: I have to adjust to what I’ve got. It’s out of my control. [When RE went back to school on October 12], I didn’t go back. My grandparents live with us, so my mom made the decision that I was going to stay home. I was okay with that; I didn’t want to take any risks. I told myself: I’m always the person who looks at the bright side of everything. Even though, sometimes, my subconscious is like, ‘Girl, you know this is terrible. Don’t even act like this is okay,’ I’ve been trying hard to stay focused; to stay active; to stay motivated. Academically it’s been hard, I feel like I have a better learning perspective when I’m actually in person with the teacher. I feel like there’s some sort of a connection where I can gain knowledge better. I do miss being on campus. I miss my friends and the conversations I have with teachers. I’m a vibe person. I feel people’s vibes. I match your energy. The screen is literally like a blockage. There’s a connection I can’t get. But there have been good moments. We had an assignment in my musical theatre class last spring to take a popular song and write our own lyrics, talking about ‘isolation.’ I recorded it, I sent it in, and then I found out the school shared it on Instagram. All the sudden, people were talking about it. I saw my math teacher playing it in the background as I logged into class. I was actually happy that I was making other people happy. I’ve probably submitted more than 10 remote performances for my classes. I realized, home school’s not so bad, if I can still give out my vibes, and give out my energy. If I’m able to show my passion through a video, through a screen, then I’m happy. I just want to see you smile. A smile’s a good look on you. Sometimes, people think they don’t have a reason to smile. My feeling is: Let me be your reason.” Jaerla Sajous ’25 Drama At home SPRING 2021 Ransom Everglades LOG 13