The Christianville Spirit: Christian's Best Friends' Festival 2010

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

November 17, 2010- TCS # 225

For those You who really know me, You know that I celebrate the friends annually via a made-up festival in My City of Christianville. So, For Those of You who don’t, Let me explain. You See, back in 2005 around the same time The Christianville Spirit started, I also created a Festival in Christianville called Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival which I designed to be held from November 16-20 on Friends Street in Downtown Christianville. Anyway, on each day during the festival, I made the day about that person and it would be my version of honoring them. Now, I chose those dates because it was close to Thanksgiving and The Holiday Season(which is my favorite time of year) So, the first day of Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival is called Michael Day, honoring my brother. The first thing that happens, is the City of Christianville Band comes through like a parade and opens The Festival Doors, which are big Doors below the stage, and represents the festival’s opening and closing. Following that, They introduce The US Flag, Tennessee Flag, and City of Christianville Flag, this represents Christianville’s place in Tennessee. After the City of Christianville Band has passed, They present the Friends that I made that year on the stage above the “Festival Doors”. This Year’s Friends presented includes Amy and David Taylor, JJ, Rick Garland, Pam Tate, Chris Norris, Georgette Black, Kelli (My Mom’s Boss), and Several Members of My PTLS Family. Anyway, After that comes a parade honoring my brother called “The Parade of Michael Centeno”. The next day, November 17 is Brooke Day, honoring my childhood friend, Brooke. For Brooke Day, They have a Fair called “Christian Smith-Centeno and Brooke Herrick Fair” which unlike the other days are on Friend Street. This Fair is in the city I named after her, called Brooke, which is up the road from Christianville. This Fair has ferris wheels, slides, and everything to do with Soccer. Following Brooke Day, on November 18 is Meredith Day which honors My Brothers and I’s Childhood friend, Meredith Herrick. for this day, They have a fair called “Meredith’s Fun Day”. This time, The fair is on Friends Street. This Fair has Ferris wheels, Spinning Rides, Slides, and Roller Coasters. The next day, November 19 is called Whitney Day which honors our childhood friend, Whitney Herrick. For Whitney Day, which for a lot of people in The Christianville Area is their favorite day because they have an event called “Wacky Whitney’s Play in Downtown Day” which mean they close the streets in Downtown Christianville, so people can walk all the streets and hang out. Now, if your wondering how I came up with the name, “Wacky Whitney”. Back when living at Mr. Jeff’s House(by the way, Mr. Jeff is the guy My M0m dated and was going to marry at the time) when jumping on the trampoline Whitney would be really funny and she was so funny that she called herself “Wacky Whitney” and that is how I came up with that name. The final day of the festival, November 20 is Steven Day, which is in honor of My Best Friend, Steven Vandeneyekel. For Steven Day, They close the Festival with a Parade called “The Tigger Parade” because he loves Tigger and He always will. After the Parade, they close “Festival Doors” and that’s the end of Christian’s Best Friends‘ Festival for the year. By the way, after the festival ends, Steven Day is a metro-wide holiday. All in all, Christian’s Best Friends‘ Festival is my way of honoring the friends I have and showing them I do cherish them.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Maybe We should consider having a real-life Festival like this. So, Cherish your Friends

The Christianville Spirit: What was I Thinking when I was Young?!?

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

November 10, 2010- TCS # 224

So, I know alot of My PTLS Family are wondering about the “Stemming” your child is doing and then, ask questions like “What is going on inside their head?”. Now, since I’m now a Young Adult, there are times when I look at My PTLS Brothers and Sisters and wonder the same thing. Also, I think of whether I did those particular movements. Well, I’ve decided to tell you what I was thinking. When I was a kid living with My Mom and Mr. Jeff at his House, I found a spot in the yard to “Stem” which in my case, was Pacing back and forth. Before I started pacing, I would first make sure no one was watching because it would stop me. After I figured that no one was around I’d start pacing, I would think about many things. One of the things I thought of was the sounds of the roads here in Dallas, by the way the major highways in Dallas have grooves in the cement which when driving on it made a high pitch noise. When I was young, I didn’t know what to call it or how to describe the noise of the road, so, I called it the “Holler Road” because that’s what it sounded like to me. In order to simulate the noise I would hum at a high pitch like I thought the road would sound like. Another thing, I paced about was pretending that I was in a different place and it was even funner because we had a creek in the backyard. Now, there were 2 Places where I would pretend I was at and I would make the creek a border line. The First place which was spurred from one place My Dad took My Brother and I to, Laredo, Texas-Nuevo Laredo, Mexico area, I would pretend that the creek was The Border between Texas and Mexico; and that we lived in Laredo, Texas(Because we were on the North side of the creek) and My Elementary School, which on the south side of the creek was in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Anyway, when you walked into Mr. Jeff’s House we had a game room. I pretended that was a US Customs Station and you had to walk through the Kitchen and Living Room to get into the country. Not only that but, I pretended that above the doors and on the walls throughout the house were signs saying “To Laredo” for the people going into the country. The other place I imagined while pacing back and forth in the backyard was that I was on the Texas/Oklahoma Border. Now, this was spurred by the lake house that Mr. Jeff had that we would go to every other weekend which was close to Oklahoma. As you can imagine, in my “Dream World,” we’ll call it, we lived in Marietta, Oklahoma and My School was in Gainesville, Texas. Another thing I thought about when pacing was images of my imaginary city, Christianville. You See, I would Imagine The cities of Christianville I named the cities of Brooke, Christianville, South Christianville, and what was then The City of Elizabethvania. In those 3 cities, I imagined 3 things, the street signs of Brooke, the Bridge over the Tennessee River between Christianville, Tennessee and South Christianville, Mississippi(by the way, the bridge is similar to The Golden Gate Bridge) and the border between South Christianville and Elizabethvania. Just so you know, Elizabeth is Mr. Jeff’s Daughter and Brooke was My childhood best friend. The former city of Elizabethvania, which is now Izzyville, was a very messy city filled with trash and ugly street signs. Now, at the time, I figured that I wanted Christianville to be the city where everyone wanted to go to and Elizabethvania was the worst. Now, don’t get me wrong, Elizabethvania’s condition was no reflection of her or what I thought of her, it was just the way I thought of the city. Now, Once I got older, I had a big clean up of the city and changed it’s name to the present name, Izzyville. and, yes Izzyville is a nice and clean city now.

Now, when I was at school I would rock back and forth. When I was in 4th Grade I actually had 2 crushes, one was Lynee. But, my secret crush was on a girl with orange hair named Lauren. What I thought about might be funny to you, but I imagined I rescued this girl from the room next to us in the 4th grade from a fire or an evil teacher. After Elementary School, My Pacing slowed down but, I still Rocked back and forth because it made me feel good. But, every school that I went to, after I knew my way around, I would imagine street signs on the wall and would name the hallways which I would do all the way up to Senior High School. So, if your children are rocking, humming, or pacing, they are thinking deeply about something. We PTLSers have great imaginations. All in all, that’s a little peek into my head of what I was thinking.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Just because someone doesn’t talk, doesn’t mean their mind isn’t working.

The Christianville Spirit: Labels, Labels, Labels!

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Inspires You

November 3, 2010- TCS # 223

So, Let me ask you a Question, What does a “Label” mean to you? Does it to say where your from like Europe or Canada? Is it a tool you use to judge someone? Well, the truth is that there are many labels to people and things. In fact, there’s pretty much a label to everything like what country or state your from (etc. American, Texan, Mexican, European), There are Labels to color of your hair like Brunette, Dirty Blonde, or just Blonde, and of course, there are what I’ll call “School Labels” like Nerd, Geek, Special Ed, Cheerleaders, and many more.. And, finally there are labels to your lifestyle and things that let’s just say are your own business like sexual preference. But, those are the most common labels that some I don’t like and others I don’t mind. The way I see Labels is that they are words to put on people so, that others can judge. To know what it feels like to have a Label is like putting a sign on your front that says what your labeled by others and then, you walk down a street and watch the way people look at you. Now, I have to say though that sometimes in the case of having a “Rare Duplication” that not many people know what it is, in a way it’s helps and in a way it doesn’t. It helps so, Your Child can get the help in school and the real world that they need. But, however, if you just want to be diagnosed with Autism(which to people with Special Needs is a Label) just so people know what you have, I believe takes away the “Rareness” and being more Special that anyone else away. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is some Autism behaviors in kids and adults with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. In fact, by a mere chance of My Mother jumping in and saying “I know he has something else” at one of the many doctor’s appointments in The Study in Houston, I could have been diagnosed with Autism. The reason why was because there was an open window view of Downtown Houston and I wouldn’t answer the questions because I fixated on the view of Downtown Houston. So, Today when it comes to Labels, I know that I have Special Needs. But, I consider myself to just be Me, The special person I am. You See, when a person has Special Needs it’s more about them as People not what they have, People need to look beyond the label. Recently, a law that would help in many ways has passed, it’s called “Rosa’s Law” that eliminates the name, the government and some many people use to describe Special Needs, it used to be what I call the R-Word and now it’s called “Intellectual Disability”. A law that I am Extremely Happy to hear about. All in All, Labels are a tool to judge people. So, Learn to see pass the label of that person.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Labels are things you find on Canned Foods, Not hanging on People.