The Brooklyn Bridge

Dear God, thank you for mommy and daddy thank you for a dis day please bless that I can have a little brover amen. Dear God, Thank you for mommy and daddy and baby sitser please bless that we will all have good dreams and be happy and know whats right, amen. Dear God, Thank you that I am so beautiful. Please bless that my sister wouldn't bug me so much and bless people who are poor. Please bless that it will be cheesy breadsticks at lunch tomorrow. Amen. Dear God, Thank you for this day and for the food. Bless me not to be so ugly anymore and not trip in dance so much. Please bless that McKenna and Rosie will let me play with them at recess tomorrow and bless mom that she won't be so bossy. Amen. Dear God, Thank you that I get to go to work with my dad like every day and have so much fun. What do you want me to be when I'm like older? A magician? A writer? A mom? I think I want to be a mom. Like the best mom ever who even knows how to sew. Amen. Dear God, Th...

Ah, the Pirouette Club dance recital. Toddlers and tutus and tantrums, oh my!  Semi-annual events give me a that consistent, nostalgic tool to string my days together and reflect on changes and blessings. Today, at this dance recital, I am engaged to the man of my daydreams and evening prayers, Jon. At the last dance recital, we had been dating for a whopping three days! At the recital before that, we were both missionaries in Matsumoto, Japan. And at the recital before that, we hadn't even met yet. I wonder how if God measures His time. I suppose it's all one eternal round for Him! I am grateful for the piece of that He has given me to have a body and a fantastic family and meet Jon and learn the mysteries of His universe. I am also grateful He gave me a mom to teach me to dance.

Intro Good morning Brothers and Sisters, I am so grateful to be able to call you that. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful family. Brother Dallas Anderson and I get to speak today because we have been called to serve as missionaries for this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On Wednesday, October 1, we report to the Missionary Training Center at 12:30 to prepare to preach this gospel in our respective areas. I have been assigned to labor in the Japan Nagoya mission. How exciting! I think we can agree that we have received an outpouring of loving support from our families, our ward and friends visiting today. Thank you for being generous with your love, morale, and advice. I have wanted to serve a mission since I was pretty young and in Primary. Now that it is at last and yet all of the sudden here, I think I finally know why I want to go.  In 3 Nephi 27:21, Jesus is commands the people to be like Him: 21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospe...

(so far) 1. Tears 2. Hugs 3. Extreme Overeating 4. Loss of desire to go to work 5. Premature feelings of missing your job 6. Random hymn solos 7. Tears 8. Extreme Happiness 9. Scripture Hunger 10. Insomnia 11. Oversleeping 12. Tons of Exciting Mail 13. Desire to kiss and cuddle always 14. Desire to never look at a boy ever 15. More eating 16. Getting up early to exercise and eating Lucky Charms instead 17. Writing every missionary you know daily 18. Loss of proper grammar usage 19. Making lists 20. Losing keys 21. Sudden need to enroll in every Institute class 22. Happy tears 23.  Loss of motivation to do anything that requires opening of the eyes or moving of the limbs. 24. Surges of Satan eating your brain 25. Surges of the Spirit hugging your heart 26. Constant itch to move out 27. Extreme rage and hatred for anything that dares to stub your toe 28. Elongating of bucket list 29. Inability to let go of your mother whilst hugging 30. Crying over simpl...

A Reflection of my Religion 101 Class, with a rather pretentious but honest-as-possible ending. As soon as I started registration for college, I asked the counselor if there was a Religions of the World class. I was eager to take it because I plan on serving an LDS mission in the fall. I wanted to know as much as I possibly could about what other people were thinking before I went out and told them my way was better. The two most memorable phrases Dr. Anderson has ever said to me came on the first day of class. First, “What the hell is Religion?” I thought it was witty and ironic, and I liked to think I understood witty humor and was cool enough to nod in comprehensive laughter.  Religion is a system comprised of people with similar belief, with rituals to enact those beliefs. Religion is a community, a therapist, and an inspiration. Religion is controlling, violent, and destructive. These are all things Religion can be, and have been. Learning about all these denominati...

Hello. My name is still Brooklyn. When the Stake Presidency asked me to share some of my thoughts and feelings for eight minutes, I was really excited. However, I believe it is very impossible for any 18-year-old girl to comprehensively explain her feelings in eight minutes. And besides, you wouldn’t understand. All drama aside, I chose just a few passionate feelings and I’m grateful to share them with you today. I will begin by introducing myself a little, just in case some of you don’t follow me on Twitter. I am Brooklyn Brewer from the Hillcrest Ward, my daddy Paul and I do magic shows, my beautiful, amazing mother Jodi teaches dance classes, and my baby sister Katelyn makes really delectable cupcakes. I go to school at Westminster College, where I major in being a Freshman, which means I have no idea what I want to do with my life yet.  However, I do know who I am. Which I think is a good first step.  I am a child of God. God is my Heavenly Father and He loves me...

That's about as new as twenty-fourteen me gets, and that's my satirical slam on society for the day. I don't do New Year's Resolutions. I don't make them either. Now before you write me off as a snob hipster, which you're free and probably entitled to do, read my rant since you're already here and internet-wasting time. First, Nearesos seem impulsive. There is ALL THE MUCH going on in November and December such as recovering from Halloween's awesomeness, deciding how you feel about Christmas music, eating too much, NaNoWriMo, pretending to study for finals, frantically "shopping" for gifts even though you're broke as a joke (thanks Kate) and have no idea what your family could possibly enjoy, working ridiculous hours, deciding how to make your one party dress look different at each party, contemplating on conforming to ugly sweater day, and then shifting into quality family time mode and magically getting along with everyone. So by the tim...

So. In true Brooklyn fashion, I committed to a project, started it a day late, made it look like I was going strong complete with pictures, and then waited until the morning it was due to finish it. Yay. Therefore, if any of you invisible audience members were looking forward to reading all my Thank You chapters, you should seek a new hobby. NO. I joke, I mean I'm sorry. Sorry. It's crazy to think I'm so blessed that I won't even be able to list MOST of the things I'm grateful for. I present, Chapter 3-28: Abridged. 3. Dear J.K. Rowling, thank you for the magical world my heart calls second home, and for creating a story about real magic. Love, Brooklyn. 4. Dear 1970s Clariol Kindness Hot Rollers, thanks for being there daily to calm the storm. Love, Brooklyn. 5. Dear Musical Theatre, Thank you for making my mornings theatrical,  letting me dance through high school, and making me cry at the gym. Love, Brooklyn. 6. Dear Clocks, thank you for giving me someon...

There's this awesome thing that occurs called  NaNoWriMo , short for "National Novel Writing Month." A completely haywire and wonderful attempt to get to 50,000 words of novel in 30 days. I've always started and never finished, so here I am, with a goal similar to the past: finish! Pretentious as you may see this, I'm going to write a novel about 30 things I'm grateful enough for to write about. Not that anyone has to read it, but it's something I always kind of wanted to take a swing at, so here's to it. Also, it's not too late to sign up and start your own novel! Go for it, and let me know if you do! Dear Art, Thank You! Love, Brooklyn. I am so grateful for feelings, passion, agency, and the dire need we have as humans to express it. Some might say art is lovely but we don't really need it, like we need science or water or something. I think we need art, at least I certainly do. A wonderful artist created us, and this earth and all its c...

This weekend's magical endeavor was Colorado's best convention! It was my first time at Magic in the Rockies and I had a blast! I met some majorly radical magicians like Walter "Zaney" Blaney, Autumn Morning Star, Danny Orleans, Duane Laflin, Losander, Becky Blaney and Arthur Stead! They are fabulous performers with very successful and entertaining careers. I had so much to learn from them and had the opportunity to chat with all of them. Amazing! I also performed in the showcase which was so fun, especially because I received so much useful feedback. My whole family got to come, which was awesome. Family bonding time for the win. I'm so excited for every upcoming day. Thanks to the incredible MITR committee for making this extraordinary weekend happen! Check out my eccentric vlog of the weekend: Or, for a quieter approach, the photos below(click to view full size):

If you weren't aware, the moment  you turn 18, your whole life is yanked up, sloshed around in the wash machine on an extremely high speed, and spat out in a completely different shape. It's kind of like accidentally touching a portkey for the very first time on your birthday and arriving somewhere completely different. I'm guessing to an outside source it really wouldn't seem that different. But that's a bit of how it feels. Most of it is good, I'm sure. First, the week before school started, I went to this totally amazing, radical magic convention in Las Vegas called MagicLive! It was my very first time and I absolutely loved it. They have a giant showroom with several dealers selling super cool new and old magic, workshops with incredible, accomplished performers, and then the best magic shows ever to top off each night! I wish I could properly express the awesomeaucity that occurred. The whole thing was the epitome of radicality, but I did have some favorit...

        YAWN. My lips stretch over my entire face as the invisible Exhaustion Monster creeps up my throat and out of my mouth. I accidentally glance at my daddy and the Monster bites him too. We each finish our yawns as we stumble into the theatre, another early morning session after a very late evening. Here we are at MagicLive!, a week-long, complete submersion of learning, buying, talking about, and showing off magic. Lectures in the morning, workshops in the afternoon, shows in the evening, and endless brainstorming, chatting, and rehearsing all night. Not to mention a big change of heart, speedily on its way to me and my career.   This convention is, without a doubt, the best four days of my whole summer. As we find our seats in the theatre, we’re weary but very anxious to know who takes the stage to bring their very professional, experience-oriented, and possibly invaluable wisdom. I open my official, laminated, designer MagicLive! binder and flip ...

This is definitely me at the present moment.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiie, how impatience loureth in your faaaaaace." The cleverness and variety in "A Comedy of Errors" makes it one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Twins, separated at birth, have now arrived in the same city and a series of mistakes leaves servants confused and overworked, a wife in distress and a really insane doctor trying to clear the whole thing up. I played Luciana, sister to Ariana, wife of Antipholus of Syracuse. Our director was super cool, because he always wanted to do Shakespeare in a different time period or setting. For this production, we were hippies. It was the most radical production you've ever seen. This play was probably one of the most fun I've ever been in.

"This is it, I have found it. I am in hell." This journey is an absolute gem. It has all my favorite feels in it. Steel Magnolias is the story of six friends who give their story to the audience through visits to Truvy's salon. Shelby is about to be married, her mother M'Lynn is like any mother-of-the bride, widow of the mayor Clairee enjoys watching all of it unfold, Annelle is a brand new stylist and scared to death, and Ms. Ouiser Boudreaux is just about every cranky loud grandma you've ever met, combined and magnified by 18. As their lives and love change, we see the beautiful strength in these women. This is one of the plays I am most grateful for. I hold an overwhelming appreciation to my director for trusting me with the gift of Ouiser. She's a nut, like me, but I can't believe he actually believed in me that much, and for that and many other lessons he taught me, I'll be indebted to him in my entire life. I had so much fun in this wonderful...

"I hope I get my raisins from Fresno!" Happy Pioneer Day! I love that we have this holiday to recognize and appreciate the spirit of the pioneers in the valiance of their lives. Speaking of pioneers, that's pretty much what we looked like in our elaborate costume in The Music Man . "Professor" Harold Hill arrives amongst the stubborn citizens of River City Iowa to sell them on the idea of creating a children's band, because the new pool table that's just come in is MUCH to dangerous. He's really a con man who gets caught up in love with Ms. Marian the Librarian, who is quite set in her ways and doesn't want to hear a word from him. But of course, he's eventually found out, changes his ways lives happily ever after (as far as we know) with Marian. As a part of the ensemble, my favorite role was one of the ladies among Eulalie Shinn's band of Grecian Urn Ladies. This musical includes some great, classic Broadway songs like "Rock ...

"Phineas, when did you change your shirt?" This was definitely one of the silliest, cheesiest, and most fun plays I've been in. I was such a little sophomore and felt so proud of my first "female romantic lead" when really I was they only one who actually wanted  to do it. Ha ha! This was the cutest play written in part by one of my favorites, Carrie Finlinson, making light satire about our city of Murray and small quirks of our church. It's a really sweet story that spins off of Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors." Phineas and Phineas were separated as infants when a tractor hit their tour bus, sending Dad and Phineas into Preston, Idaho and Mom and Phineas into good old Murray, Utah. The boys grow up, Mom and Phineas in the church, but he's having doubts because he's gotta maintain that Legend-In-His-Own-Mind Image. Phineas of Preston seeks out to find the rest of his family, meets the missionaries, finds his mother without realizi...

" Forget about the boy, Dillmount! Get yourself a canary." Thoroughly Modern Millie is one of those super-fun musicals with a great, stick-right-in-your-head score. Millie is a spunky little farm girl that decides to change her entire image by moving to New York and marrying her new rich boss. But of course, through her roller coaster of love, jail, an insane hotel manager and stenoging, she realizes that her green-glass love is so much more than the emerald image she was running for. I played the completely flattering Ms. Flannery. This was one of my favorite roles because of her cranky volume and all the tap dancing we got to do. Our costume designers were amazing, they made almost everything on stage! Who doesn't love dressing up like a flapper? So many fringes, so many bad wigs. I mean look at that beehive. I'm pretty sure it weighed three pounds. What a blast!

The arts have been a blessing and quite integral part of my entire being. I'm grateful for every show I've been in and the directors willing to trust me with parts. I truly don't want to forget any of the wonderful shows I've been in, so I want to do a little article about each of them. So, the blog will be a bit theatrically clogged for a while, but isn't it always, anyway? "Get your red-hot cheongsams here!" The classic Disney story of Mulan came to life on our stage with interesting new music, a rather philosophical script, and lots of black hair dye. I played the "cheongsam salesperson" and lots of chorus roles. It was my first musical and I couldn't have been more neurotically excited to be a part of it. The legendary Camrey Bagley was our Mulan, and our ancestors were really cool. I'd say it was a really different show than any classical musical theatre.

There's this really incredible, heart-exploding feeling you can have if you are injured during a show. Usually, you're dancing your heart out to the same 42 sets of eight exactly like you have been the past 87 times you've gone through this. But for some reason, this time, in front of the audience you've worked so hard for, you break your toe landing your jete, or sprain your back doing your ariel, or dislocate your knee jumping off that table, or (my favorite) just get totally nailed square in the nose by your partner taking an epic jazz hand. It doesn't matter. That searing, worst physical pain you've ever been in in your short life isn't even there. It's SO there. Screaming at your and rushing through your entire body like thousand-degree needles.  You have to stop, you can't dance like that. It's impossible to keep character with that shearing through you veins. Nevertheless. You do. This precisely, is the beauty thereof. Theatre forces you ...