iGO4

Everyone is a Story. The first language we learn is ‘belonging.’ As we age, we forget. As we hurt, we forget. GO exists to remind people across communities that they once spoke this language; that we all speak this language. GO is a hands-on, hopes-high experience in which students become leaders as they live their potential, one brave act at a time. Join us as we hear their stories.

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What am I thankful for?

I have great teachers that I can joke with and have some fun with and other staff that care for me. I have a brother that I practically share a house with and can talk to even though he can make me mad at times.                                                                                                                         A blond haired, Canadian senior and his best friend ( nicknamed Christmoney) who I absolutely enjoy seeing.                                                                                                                       The 10th grade nephew of the Supervisor of Go who I joke with and talk to him and his friends. He is the definition of fun and crazy.                                                                                       Juniors that I always take the time to say hi to and he takes the time to say hi to.                     Family that loves me and know that I can express feelings to.                                                  Freshmen Friends of mine  who I hang out with and Muslim friends who I get to hang out on Friday with.                                                          

The warm, fuzzy feeling I get inside when I say hi to people, joke with them, and have failed conversations with people’s older siblings and people in general.                                       Seniors that I say hi to and friends of my brother who are my friends                                        Mysterious people since mysteries are always fun to me.                                                      Being able to golf, play piano, do service to others and other things.                                         All the recognition I got like countless awards, achievements, nominations and the ability to recognize others.                                                                                                                 I’m a natural story teller, a joker, and a person with 9 different ethnicities.                                People that listen to me.                                                                                                      How awkward I am.                                                                                                             Food, water, shelter, my pets and lots of creatures I get to see, like beavers and woodpeckers, and squirrels, and how childish I can be, and how I have shelter, solitude, protection, the ability to tolerate people, forgive them, and for people who love me.                                                 Meditation, prayer, and somebody I can talk to even it feels like a one way communication.      Relaxation and peace at times.                                                                                             New Things I learn everyday and countless other things…………………                                          Also, If i could send a text to everyone in my generation, it would say, “There is no such things as normal. Everybody is there own self. Be grateful you are you.”

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It all started in middle, I was picked because of my skin tone. I was ashamed at who I was just because of a few people telling me I wasn’t normal. But once I got into high school I stood up for myself and told the people to stop calling me albino. And I think the experiences I had in middle school helped me become more mentally tough and helped me become the person I am today.

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If you really knew me you would know I love people. And when I care, I care a lot. My love for people is my greatest strength.

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I am a Christian, and in today’s world, that is crazy. When people call Christians crazy, they usually mean irrational, but we’re not. We are crazy in exactly the way the poem describes; misfits, rebels, impossible to ignore, and daring enough to think we can change the world. I believe in an all powerful being who created the entire universe. I believe that a man named Jesus is the son of this all powerful being. I believe that with the help of a collection of historical writings and letters that I can have a relationship with these persons. And I believe that I will spend eternity in the presence of the One, who love me more than I can even fathom… These are crazy things! But like I said, they’re not irrational. I wouldn’t want to be crazy if it meant being irrational, I don’t think anyone would. But if I believe these things, if these things are true, then the only rational response is a life of craziness! A life filled with love, a life filled with joy, a life filled with helping others so that they can see the truth that is the fuel for my craziness.

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The most important thing that I’ve learned in life is when people or life knocks you down, you gotta get up and keep moving forward.

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The one thing that I would change about school is to have people stop bullying me. I don’t know why, but it’s really annoying! It could be of how I look I just don’t know!

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The people that inspire me the most are definitely my dad and my grandpa, who passed away in 2006. Both of them were business men and they have taught me that I can be the owner of anything if I put my mind and heart to it.

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When I first joined a band, it was something new and I haven’t done it before. It was pretty fun and challenging at first, but now I’m really close to the guys who I started out with. I just thought it would be cool to tour around and play shows at first, but I also learned how to work with total strangers and coming up with ideas. And becoming one.

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The best lesson I’ve learned throughout life is that in a matter of minutes life can change and you can miss out if you’re not around. So love your family and keep them close because they will be the ones who are there for you. I’ve never put it into words before, but just learning it in all my travels months gone and away from my family. I’ve come to realize family is most important and hold onto what you got. You never know what tomorrow is going to bring.

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It was Christmas time. My family and I were dealing with bankruptcy and my parents told me and my sister that we weren’t getting any gifts and so we all decided to give to the less fortunate because we know how it feels. We went to church and helped get baskets together and give it to the poor. So that day I really learned the true meaning of Christmas and that changed me to e a better person. Christmas is not about the gifts, it’s about spending time with the people you love and get together and spread the love by helping others.

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I befriended a blind, homeless man four years ago. What started as a weekly trip to do his laundry turned into daily meals, conversations and a birthday party in his honor every August. Frank and I understand that he can’t return any favors me and my family extend him. We also understand that giving without expecting anything in return is the craziest, most effectual way to give. Try living with more concern for the well-being of others than your own. Do this out of that sacred knowledge of how you were specifically equipped to serve the world. That is a task without end. I commit myself to it everyday. Through success and failure, you and I need only to participate.

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What makes me crazy? 

I see myself looking at everyone else and I compare and stop caring. I figure out how to make it through the world and not slip through the cracks. I figure out how to benefit the world while trying to not become a trending topic. 

I try to separate myself from all the doubts, self doubts, fears. I am trying to sop forgetting that God has my back and a good 90% of the time has been good through my learning process.

I have been trying to find support and through all that searching I am wasting time, valuable time I could be using perfecting my craft (music and design). Instead of looking for y'all approval, I should be proving to myself that I can do this. Music shouldn’t be written for other people. Through music you can’t understand someones story by one song. It could be effected by how they’re feeling that day or that period in their life. That is what I try and figure out, the story that I want to tell. I’m crazy because I’m trying. 

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So, from the perspective of most people I might actually be considered clinically crazy: my life is oriented and possible because I believe that I can talk to a being that I have never seen, nor have I ever heard Him verbally speak to me, though I do believe I have access to words He wrote. I believe I can talk with someone who died thousands of years ago and that they are even with me today, living, and will always be with me. I also believe there is someone living inside me, a friend a guide who I try to listen to and follow more than my own ideas or desires.

I also believe the whole world is at war. Not the guns and combat kind, though there are causalities every day. In fact, I believe every single death, every kind of evil, small or large, whether in Syria or in my own heart is evidence of this war.

I also believe that we are living in enemy occupied territory, enslaved to death, unable to pay our way out of the situation. I believe the one who rules is not the true ruler, but temporary. He is a cruel ruler, lying to us constantly and desiring nothing but to kill us, steal, and destroy all good.

However, the core of what I believe is that the true King is invading. He is not coming with guns raised high, but in people with lives laid low. He will defeat this evil in us and the one who rules. The take over has already started, and continues today.

I believe this king, destroyed death and all power that evil has, by dying, but also bringing himself back to life. I believe that by believing all of this, that I am a helpless slave to not living up to my own standards, then alone the king’s good standards, and yet, out of His love for me and favor I did not earn, He has freed me from my bondage and invited me into the royal family, all my simply saying I have nothing to offer to you, and never will, my King, but I receive your invitation to be free, and would love to live under your roof.

I believe that this is my reality, and whether people admit it or not, it is there reality too. Now I get to serve with the King as He communicates His message of amnesty and freedom to those who have never met him.

I studied psychology at the University of Michigan, and I think these beliefs could put me under a crazy label of paranoid schizophrenic. Unless, against all logical odds, these “beliefs” are in fact “truths.” If that is the case, there is a whole world that still needs to know.

If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us.Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

–Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ in a letter to the church in Corinth.

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My name is Drew Parks and my story is one that is still very much in progress. People have been calling me crazy for years, because I think someone like me can make it big in the gruesome entertainment business as a musician. I’ve been writing, producing, and recording hip-hop music since I was 10 years old, and it’s been my lifelong goal to tour the world performing live and influencing culture with my music. It’s not exactly “changing the world” per se, but if my music can make a few people happy, or laugh, or pissed off, or anything, I think the art will have done it’s job. I’m definitely the “round peg a the square holes” - while all my friends have gone through the normal regimen of graduating college, securing a good internship, and then winning a good job that pays salary and benefits, I’ve still been at home working as a struggling artist. My story is far from an inspirational success story so far, but it’s one I still hold firm belief in. Call me crazy, but I have a vision. And as unbelievable as it may seem, I know I’m not far from it.

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I don’t adhere to societal norms. I am loud, confident, and persistent. At 22, I work 50 hours a week in the field I went to school for, broadcast reporter. I leave exhausted, but fulfilled. I give a voice to people who feel silenced, and I hold people accountable. Constantly striving to improve. But most of all, I’m a woman who pushes boundaries and refuses to accept mediocrity.

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I walked away from everything i knew and everything i was comfortable with which was pretty much my whole life: school, friends, relationship, family, home. I didn’t like where i was and I wasn’t really that happy. So I opened a door not really sure where i was going and just kept moving. I always planned on serving and the air force was the best fit for me. It’s an outlet that allows me to change. I am a lot better at not procrastinating and I get to learn another language. I don’t really know where I’m headed and I’ll just keep moving. i’ll know when I get there.

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I turned down a full ride from Kettering University because I didn’t want to pursue engineering. Instead, I entered the creative field at Michigan State where success wasn’t guaranteed. This risk I took has gotten me places I never would have imagined in years. My design work swept the American Advertising Federation in Lansing in 2014, I’ve designed a book from cover to cover, and currently in the position where my dream job can soon become a reality.