Will Soto

𝑰 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒍𝒚𝒏, 𝑵𝒀 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝟏𝟕 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒂, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏. 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏, 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒚 (𝟏𝟎), 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 (𝟖), 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 (𝟔). 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 “𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑”, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚.


𝑰 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 (𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕), 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎), 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐) 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝑩𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝑰𝒏 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑, 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝑴𝒅𝒊𝒗, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚. 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑪𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝑳𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒓 (𝑳𝑷𝑪) 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅.


𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟎 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉.


𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝟖 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝑬𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓. 𝑰𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒔, 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎.


𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 (𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍), 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑵𝒀 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 (𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒀 𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒔!), 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔, 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅/𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚/𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕!