The Beginning

For my father, whom I was telling the plot of five Meryl movies to that I had stayed up all night to watch, when he told me to write about them, so that maybe one day, Meryl could see them.

 

                                                            

Dear readers,

      Hello, my name is Katherine Hill. I am not quite sure how to do this. I once tried to write a personal diary after reading Anne Frank’s. I dedicated my diary to her, wrote to her as often as possible, or at least I had the intention to. That project fell through a little bit. But I want this to be different because while I am unsure of a lot of things, I, for certain, admire Meryl Streep.

      I admire lots of other women as well, aside from my feminine family members of course, there is also: Hillary Clinton, Jacquline Kennedy Onasis, Anne Frank, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julie Andrews, and Julia Child. In my personal diary, I wrote often about the anxiety-induced stutter that I have, and how it really derails my self-confidence and ability to speak up in school. I suppose my coping mechanism was to latch on to these other women for help, because I was too afraid of letting my family members in and making them disheartened. So I did latch on. Each of them has given me some sort of influential quality. Hillary taught me to be courageous, Jacquline to be poised, Anne to be optimistic in the face of any hardship, Ruth to be passionate, Julie taught me to be expressive through the wonderful power of the Arts, and Julia to be determined. But only Meryl’s influence and character, I think, has been the one to give me what I really needed. I needed my voice back; I needed to find it. Meryl helped me find it and she gave me the strength to use it again without caring in the least bit about what others may or may not think. I am fully aware of the fact that Meryl has no idea I even exist. I am content with that. But if she did know, I would want to tell her that I am forever grateful for all of the self-esteem she has given me, without even knowing it.

      That said, you may be asking yourselves, ‘Why is she even doing this?’ Which is indeed a fair question. I am doing this because writing is important to me; for the longest time, it was the only way I dared to use my voice. I also genuinely do love The Arts. I have cerebral palsy, and so football to me is an immediate death trap, but The Arts are a form of expression that allow me to leave my own life and be someone else for a time. I love them with all of my heart.

      ‘So why Meryl?’ you are continuing to ask. Well, as previously stated, Meryl has been the one to immensely help me improve the way I view myself. Given that she has so many movies (almost 70), I want to watch them all and learn from them. I think it would be a great goal for myself, considering the fact that  I have a difficult time following through on things; but it would be selfish of me not to share the lessons with someone. So I am writing them to you, my anonymous readers. Get the popcorn ready. Let the binge begin. In the words of Miranda Priestly, That’s all.  

                     

 

I remain yours,

Katherine

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****Disclaimer: This blog is merely a fun personal project of mine. Also, it WILL include spoilers to ANY of Meryl’s movies AND television works that I can get my hands on. Part of my thought process is analyzing each of her films and television shows as a complete whole, in order to see what lessons they provide. You have been warned!!!***