Coates — Opening Worlds

Writing Prompt:

Reflect on your experience. Write or respond in a medium of your choice (video, drawing, etc.) about a transformative experience that opened you to a new world (perhaps meeting someone of an identity different from your own, traveling, studying something new). What was your perspective prior to this experience? How did you grow as a result of this encounter?

I guess what really opened my world was social media. (lol jk, that’s simplifying it a bit too much) It was the last year of middle school and I wasn’t really into social media or anything, but I had two friends I really had fun with. I was pushed and eventually I made a Facebook account. It was a new experience for me and I really opened up. In fact, it was so big of a change that people couldn’t believe it at first. I suppose it really helps to talk online, where you can have time to think over your response and not have to worry about the other person. You could say it was my version of liquid courage.

And so there…I met the friend of a friend and so on and eventually I had a whole bunch of friends from all over the world, all kinds of people. I know, I know. They teach you these things when you’re a kid. Don’t talk to strangers on the web, don’t talk to adults you don’t know. Of course, I said as much to them and surprisingly they were fine with my bluntness (actually they loved it, but hey, what do you expect from people who call themselves weirdo and are proud of it?). They taught me, the reassured me, they made me laugh. And they are just as real and important as the people I talk to in real life.