Cheeseburgers, Matty.
A biographical representation of a time when I was a kid playing baseball: If I got into a slump while pitching, my coach use to yell out, “Cheeseburgers, Matty!” using my favorite food as an incentive to help me throw strikes and get through the inning.
Bronx Rain
Made for Edyson Julio’s short story, “If I Decide So.”
This flash-fiction piece tells the story of a young woman in moments of desperation and reflection of her life outside of the prison walls.
“…That maybe the sky is waiting for me to watch it once more, or that the rain wants to kiss my dark skin before the clouds dry. Sometimes I toss water from the sink into the air above me, and let it fall over my head and shoulders. If I close my eyes fast enough it feels natural, like Bronx rain.”
The “Untold” Series: Story 1
This marks the first illustration in a series of anonymously submitted stories as part of a visual storytelling experiment.
The experiment: “Tell me a story from your life you’ve never told anyone about. Make it funny, make it sad, make it scandalous or scary, but I don’t want to know who you are. Unless it’s part of the story, I wouldn’t even like to know your age, what you look like, or even if you’re male or female. It is from your stories that I will develop a series of illustrations.”
Story 1
Submitted by: Anonymous
To this day I have no idea if this was imagined or true. I awoke one morning as usual, did the morning routine and left my apartment. As I was in the vestibule about to leave the building, I felt a sensation of weightlessness. I suddenly felt my hand slowly brush against the wall in an upward motion. “what is happening to me?” I thought in astonishment and terror. Before I knew it I was holding my hands over my head to prevent from hitting my head on the ceiling. I then felt the front door open and said to myself that I can control it and see if I can go outside. As I passed the doorway, I felt a sudden rush of energy pulling me out. Suddenly I was floating higher and higher almost uncontrollably but I felt like as long as I could keep my mind on where I was going I would travel in that direction.
Unfortunately that is all I remember about that event, but I somehow know that it was only possible because no one was around. I found it incredibly strange.