my story

My name is Sherrie Adams. I grew up in Chicago, where I went to public school until 6th grade and then catholic school until 8th grade. I thoroughly detested both. When I was 13, my mom got remarried after being divorced from my dad for 9 years, and my sister, my mom, and I moved from an apartment on the north side of Chicago to a house in the suburbs. Thats when my endless battle with high school began.

I was the misery chick: depressed, apathetic, sarcastic. I never went to any dances, never fit in, had very few friends, and I was totally bored with being at school for 8 hours a day. Did you ever watch the sitcom Roseanne? Remember Darlene? That was me. I still don’t like long endeavors. Being anywhere for 8 hours is excruciating and grueling. I have an automatic alarm clock that goes off after any 4 hour excursion.

I know teachers were preparing us for Life. At least thats what one teacher said, but I think that their approach was all wrong. All of my nameless, faceless teachers should have said: “We are preparing you for a categorically structured, very specific life; a life that most of you will choose. We are preparing you for the most popular and teachable life available, and consequently the one that happens to be the cornerstone which society is built upon.”

I basically spent 12 years unknowingly assimilating their version of Life. That’s impressive because I wasn’t ever and I’m still not impressionable; not to mention, I rarely went to high school. As a matter of fact, 6 months before graduation, some random administrative woman called me down to the office and told me that my attendance record was so bad that if I missed any more days I wouldn’t graduate. I never missed another day, and I did graduate.

With the exception of that nameless administrative woman, who was just doing her job but changed the course of my life greatly, no one had ever noticed or questioned my absence from school: no teachers, no acquaintances, counselors, or friends.

What really angers me about school is that they never told us about entrepreneurship, preparing for job interviews, buying a car, investing and saving your money, or finding your true passion. I mean, we should all have been making a deliberate choice about who we are and who we want to be! I don’t mean that we should haphazardly pick the best option out of the worst; instead we should have been taught how to create options, and how to seek them out if the options presented to us weren’t favorable.

They also never mentioned how important it is to know what you want, have a plan, enjoy what you do, how being broke sucks, and how to process and maintain relationships of all types. I mean, life is a skill, just like everything else. Some people are simply not good at it, and need guidance. Some people don’t know what they want, why they are here, how to communicate clearly, or how to make good decisions.

It’s sad to think some people are never truly happy, and never figure these things out, and the main reason is that they never learned how! But hey, they can do algebra! Ugh!

Life is the hardest and most important subject of them all, yet it’s never offered in high school. I couldn’t wait for high school to be over so I could become an original person with my own thoughts and ideas. Finally, I could get out of bed when I want, study things of importance to me, eat lunch and go to the washroom without asking permission.I love to write quotes and adages; one of my favorites that I wrote a long time ago is: “living any other way would interfere with my life.” That’s what school was – an interference with life.

Do you think it is a coincidence that school and work are both about 40 hours a week with an hour lunch break? How convenient that our parents are gone for the same amount of time at work, so not only is there a place for us to go while they work, but we get a double dose of what standard reality is – a subconscious/subliminal view of how our lives will inevitably be. It is designed to be interpreted as the best and only way to live.

I’m not saying it isn’t a good plan. I mean, look around, it does work for millions of people, and that’s cool. I am just saying they shouldn’t be manipulative and trick you into conventionalism. Anytime you are taught something without being shown all sides, that’s a form of manipulation. Whether it is intentional or not, it’s still fucked up.

Once I determined that my reality wasn’t the cookie cutter version they taught us, I literally had to unlearn what was inculcated into my brain, which sucked. I also had to convince everyone that the path I was choosing was right for me! It’s not like they taught us through verbal repetition either, they taught us through the most effective and irreversible way to truly teach someone: teaching through example and action. When that happens, you don’t even know it’s happening. You just wake up one day and realize that you’re confused, and rightfully so, because now you’re an adult, making your own decisions, and realizing they are not your own decisions at all! If they were, you wouldn’t be confused or questioning yourself.

I don’t like being in the dark about things or being treated like a number, so I basically unlearned things pretty early on. Music was my outlet and my motivation for seeking a cool job I got during sophomore year. I started working for this company that hired girls to go to music venues and sell roses. I know it sounds cheesy but it was awesome for me! I worked as a Rosegirl and saw awesome shows like Madonna, Aerosmith, and about 150 others. I was making $80-$100 per night and seeing rock shows!

That job made my teen years bearable and gave me confidence and exposure. The company was also sending Rosegirls to nightclubs and I started working at different clubs and making even more money, and made great music contacts. I started recording backups for local bands, and writing with producers. I also became a member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and started singing commercials. I loved writing and recording and figured I should start playing shows.

I played out constantly and because of my live experience I got hired through an agency to tour Europe, Africa, and Puerto Rico. I had just started a sales & promotion company called JRC, but I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by, so I hired a girl to work while I was gone.Europe was incredible; I saw so much in such a small amount of time, I think I didn’t process all of it. I went to 8 countries (including Russia, Spain, and Turkey) and was gone for over a year, with a couple of 4 day breaks at home. I performed at over 75 venues for crowds as small as 200 to crowds as big as 10,000. It was the experience of a lifetime! So basically, I play out, write and record songs, own JRC, and wait for the phone to ring for singing commercials. I am waiting and actively trying to create my big break!

Thanks for reading my story. I have a tendency to take many twists and turns when writing, so I hope this didn’t bore you. I hope to see you at my shows! And if you like my story, post on truthaholic and let’s talk!

Thanks again,
Sherrie
xoxo