Katelyn Butler

Dr. Witte

Teaching Writing

07 February 2017

Press Play

Dear listener,

The soundtrack I have created is a series of songs that correlate

with pivotal points in my life. My name is Katelyn Butler, and I am from

Tulsa, Oklahoma. I currently attend Oklahoma State University, where I

am studying Secondary Education with an Option in English. The tracks

on this album reflect major events, or short periods, in my life that

have shaped me into the person I am today. Before creating this

project, I hoped to dig deeper into the feelings that I experienced

throughout these life events. I am completing the project to gain a

better understanding of why these songs/experiences came to mind

when brainstorming and prewriting for the project. I plan to utilize this

project in my future classroom as a way to get to know my students. In

addition, I will use it to allow them to gain a better understanding of

their own life experiences. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, the soundtrack begins on a dreary note with

Welcome to My Life by Simple Plan. The year was 2004 and I was in

the third grade at Peters Elementary School. Each day, I chose to

surround myself with girls that were not like me, essentially the in
crowd, where I tried so hard to fit in. I found myself wearing clothes

that everyone else was wearing, joining sports teams that I was not

interested in, and pretending to be someone I was not. This began to

take a toll on me, and I became very angry and frustrated with myself.

The opening quotation of the song Welcome to my Life is, Do you

ever feel out of place, like somehow you just dont belong and no one

understands you? and that is absolutely how I felt. This song

represents a time in my life where I was very unsure of who I was and

who I wanted to be. Self-identity is something I struggled with

throughout elementary school and middle school. Looking back on this

experience, I have learned that the greatest harm one can do to

themselves is to act as someone that they are not.

That same year, my world began to crumble as my parents sat

me down and informed me that they were getting a divorce. This

brings the listener to the second song on the soundtrack entitled The

Middle by Jimmy Eat World. I saw the divorce coming. On most nights

of the week, my parents argued. As a third grader, one does not know

how to mentally prepare for their world to be turned upside down, so I

sat in my room that night and sobbed to myself. I was furious,

distraught, devastated, and so many other emotions. I wished I had

siblings that I could turn to for guidance and comfort. After a few

months of sorrow and confusion, I decided that I needed to look at the

situation in a different light. Jimmy Eat Worlds The Middle gave me

hope that my parents and I would get through this difficult time. The

lyrics made me believe that everything would be OK. Little girl, youre

in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything will be just fine. This

song reveals that I am a positive person. I constantly try to step back

and look at bad situations and think, How can I face this head on and

move forward? Somehow, this life-changing event resulted in learning

the power of positivity.

Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I played

recreational soccer. I excelled on each team that I played on and was

thrilled to find out that I had made the high school soccer team in the

spring of 2010. Shortly after preseason started, I suffered a knee injury

that would end my soccer career. My dad and I sat in the doctors office

that day absolutely in shock. He said everything he could think of to

cheer me up, Now you dont have to spend all that time at practice

every day! and Maybe this will be good, we can spend more time

working on your school work together! Despite his best efforts,

nothing could turn my mood around. Heartbroken, I finished out the

year as a manager and said goodbye to my favorite sport at the end of

my freshman year of high school. Next on the soundtrack comes the

motivating Tubthumping by Chumbawamba, which contains the

uplifting quotation, I get knocked down, but I get up again. Youre

never going to keep me down. After accepting the end of my soccer

career, I decided to move forward and run for student council

parliamentarian. I was elected, and thus, began my incredible journey

through the world of student council. Life knocked me down, but when

a person chooses to accept change and move forward, the

opportunities are endless. This experience taught me that everything

happens for a reason. If I had continued playing soccer, I would have

never met my best friends of eight years, attended countless

leadership workshops, or obtained the social skills that I have today.

In November of my junior year of high school, I attended the

annual country western dance called Hoedown. As the night came to

a close, there was one person that I wanted to spend the rest of the

evening with. His name was Paul. We headed out to his black Mazda

after the dance and took the long way home. As we pulled up to 3313

West Hartford Street, I requested that he kept the car on. Confused, he

sat there while I turned on Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. I took his hand

and we danced in the street to the song that would have a significant

meaning to the both of us. We shared our first kiss that night, and

spent the coming year and a half together as a couple. Within that year

and a half, I learned numerous life lessons about independence,

respect, communication, trust, and compassion. He was one year older

and unfortunately, the distance resulted in me breaking things off the

summer before I started school at Oklahoma State. Perhaps it was the

right person at the wrong time, or the relationship was meant

exemplify what each of us should expect from other people in future

relationships. We both had a deep respect for each other. He and I

wholeheartedly accepted one another for exactly who we were, which

is rare in teenage relationships. This track conveys a time in my life in

which I experienced being loved unconditionally, by someone other

than family. An experience I wish to have again, someday.

As the class of 2013 walked across the stage at graduation, I was

overcome with emotion. One by one, I watched my boyfriend and

closest friends receive their diplomas with excitement of the future in

their eyes. Then, there was me. I had one more year left in high school,

while everyone I was close to would pack up and leave for a new

chapter of their lives. Summer came and went, and I was forced to take

on senior year with my support system in six different cities far away

from Tulsa. As senior year began to unfold, I formed new friendships

with the students in my graduating class. I grew as a person in a

plethora of ways. I learned to appreciate the time I have with friends

and family, realized I wanted to pursue a career in education, and

found my strengths and weaknesses. As soon as I felt whole again,

graduation arrived. It was my turn to receive my diploma and start a

new chapter, but I was not ready yet. I was not ready to leave the

school district I had attended for 14 years, I was terrified to leave my

parents, and I was devastated to leave my new friends. Ill Always

Remember You by Hannah Montana was the theme song to my senior

year. With quotations such as, Never thought Id walk away, with so
much joy and so much pain, which expressed the mixture of emotions

I had upon leaving a high school experience that was so fulfilling.

During my senior year, I began to understand the importance of not

wishing time away. I realized that each day we are given is a gift, and

everyone should embrace every moment of it.

For weeks, I waited every day for the mail to come to find out if I

had been chosen to be a junior counselor for a leadership camp called

BASIC. The letter finally came during the last few weeks of my senior

year with the words CONGRATULATIONS! written across the top of

the letter. I was ecstatic. I had previously attended the camp as a

student, and I was thrilled for the opportunity to experience it all again

on the other side. The time for July BASIC had finally arrived as the

advisors and junior counselors spent a week preparing for the

delegates. High school students from all over Oklahoma arrived on

buses in Alva, Oklahoma, unaware of what was in store. Once they

were settled in, 300+ delegates were split up into councils of 20-25

students. Within those councils, it was rare for any of the students to

know each other. The song that correlates with July BASIC is Check On

It (King Klub Remix) by Beyonce. Each morning, the delegates would

pile into the gymnasium at 8:00am, and the junior counselors would

lead a 6-minute, free style dance, in which the students would follow.

As the week progressed, it was obvious that the delegates were

becoming better acquainted with each other. 300 students, delirious

from no sleep and constant activity, all jumping around, dancing, and

laughing with each other, as if they had all been friends forever. This

song represents a rare experience and one of the most rewarding

weeks of my entire life. After being in student council for three years, I

started to see the significance in getting outside my comfort zone.

That week at BASIC, I witnessed students learn about themselves, and

each other, in profound ways. Through my experience at BASIC, I

learned that by stepping outside the comfort zone, one can accomplish

incredible things.

At the end of my fall semester as a sophomore at Oklahoma

State, my two roommates and I began to hunt for potential houses to

move into at the end of spring semester. After touring many run-down

college homes, we came across 2105 West Sherwood Avenue and we

knew it was the one. The following day, we sat at a long, freshly

polished table, across from our young, very attractive future landlord

and signed the lease of our first college home. We could not wait to

finally have our own place- no one to answer to, no more being stuck in

a house full of 65 girls, at last we would have our own space. The lease

started in June 2016, and the months following the lease signing

dragged on. Fast forward to that summer, and we were all moving our

belongings in. The first night in the house, we decided to break in the

new stereo and turn up our favorite song I Feel Like a Woman by

Shania Twain. The song signified a pivotal time in our college career- an
unbreakable bond between three friends who would overcome

countless obstacles regarding life and friendship in the months to

come. Those months consisted of learning about time management,

growing up (i.e. paying bills, backed up plumbing, saving electricity,

etc), and how to put aside petty frustrations and simply make the best

of our time together. The three of us will forever be grateful for the

time spent on Sherwood Ave and the lessons it has taught us. Besides,

as Shania Twain put it, The best thing about being a woman is the

prerogative to have a little fun.

That same summer, Jessica, a friend from high school, and I

loaded up the car with our camping gear, bags full of clothes, and a

cooler with a weeks worth of food for our adventure to Manchester,

Tennessee. By 10:00am on that Thursday summer morning, we were

headed to the Bonnaroo music and arts festival. The playlist for the car

ride contained hundreds of new songs that we would soon hear live

upon our arrival at the festival. I was most excited for the band that

would be closing out the weekend that Sunday night Dead and

Company. Dead and Company consists of the remaining members of

the legendary band Grateful Dead, with John Mayer filling in for Jerry

Garcia. The final track on my soundtrack is Tennessee Jed by Grateful

Dead. Roughly a week before embarking on our journey to Tennessee, I

had just moved into our house in Stillwater. I was feeling extremely

homesick, and Jessica and I were not very close friends. The trip helped
me become at peace with growing up and moving out of my parents

house. It also served as a week for taking time to myself by spending

the weekend doing what I love most listening to live music and

camping. On the final night of the festival, we arrived at the stage

early, set out our tapestry, and prepared for an unforgettable

performance. Dead and Companys four-hour set was one of the

greatest shows I have ever experienced. Reflecting on the week now, it

is apparent that sometimes, when life gets overwhelming, it is best to

take some time for yourself and do what makes you happy.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about songs and moments

that are extremely important to me. After spending a great deal of time

piecing this project together, it is incredible what an assignment like

this can unlock. By reflecting on these significant moments and

listening to the music while writing about the experiences, it allows the

writer to go back in time and analyze the events in detail. This

assignment is a fantastic way to spark creativity, channel emotions,

and reveal untold details about ones life. Again, thank you, for

listening to the soundtrack of my life.