Band of Misfits		Next
	I was a Teenage Curve Breaker		Before

The sun peeking through a hole in the clouds
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A family walking to a mini van
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The water marked with white and birds swimming in the tide
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Life... it's really what you make of it.
That's something that took me along time to learn. I figured being the best would have brought the universities to me with bribes and promises and all those silver and gold dreams that raced through my head as I studied. A way out is all I wanted.
Out of the house, out of California and out of this god forsaken city.

I was a curve breaker, the one that got an A while everyone else failed, I was the one that made the class groan because the grades would have been pushed up. I was responsible for people failing and having no chance and all I could think of was this was my out. This was my way away from this city and all the people. Then I found the Cyclops. Well actually I bought a cheap used camera. I bought it for a class project because I knew doing extras like that would get me a higher grade so it seemed fitting.

Life through the camera was different. I could change the look and focus. No more was a person in the front the person you looked at. Instead it would be the old woman in the back row while everyone else was out of focus. I found my calling. Take the normal and cause people to focus on what they normally don't.

So I considered an art scholarship as I took photos and my grades went down. What was the good of keeping up when the classes were so easy. Instead I would take out that camera and click off picture after picture.
Suddenly I wasn't a curve breaker but someone weird with a camera and a determined look. College never looked so good. Especially all the big art programs I could become part of.
That was until the final report card of my junior was no more then a one point something or other. My cum. GPA was low, real low. I failed or barely passed what I needed and couldn't get in anywhere. Even the city colleges seemed like a long shot so that summer I was depressed. I took photos and tried to work it out. Then I got a job. Not a good job but still a job. It didn't give me enough to move out but it did give me a basis and working at the Shopper isn't too bad. I have a portfolio so when the day comes I can take it all and try somewhere else.

So I cover whatever they want me to, generally something lame in the city. Still I take some damn good photos and people seem to like what I do. All in all life through the Cyclops Eye isn't too bad.
May the real papers'll pick me up someday.

© Sal Ponce 2001

Notes?