The Citizens of CK is a piece inspired by the Humans of New York project created by Brandon Straton. That project aimed to display the stories of various inhabitants of the city, an experience we did our best to replicate with the Citizens of CK. We interviewed various students and faculty members at the school, ranging from well known members of the band to shy athletes. We hope you enjoy reading the stories from our interview and find your own tale to tell.

-Emily & Connor

Describe a night you want to relive.

“I went to a six week long music institute program at Brevard College over the summer in North Carolina. We would rehearse in an outdoor auditorium that had around 1500 seats and no walls. We were rehearsing a really dramatic piece that was around forty minutes long. Towards the end of the finale, the piece becomes even more dramatic and almost thunderous. While we played, there was a thunderstorm happening at the same time. It was pouring down rain outside and the thunder was going while we were playing. Our music mixed with the thunder. While we played, the power went out, but we kept playing anyways. When the lights came back on, our pages flew shut from all of the wind. It was so cool.”

What kinds of decisions are the hardest for you?

“The hardest decisions I have to make is with friends and deciding when it’s time to stop being friends with them. When you get emotionally attached to people, then it’s hard to just let them go, and sometimes you have to because of how they are treating you. I appreciate all of my good friends that I have, but there’s a few that I’ve had that I had to let go, and that’s a hard choice to make because of all the history you have with that person. I’ve had to do that a few times and it’s always sad when it happens. It’s just a hard thing to do I guess.”

What is the truest thing you know?

“The truest thing I know is… For me, I believe that we are all here together on this earth to support each other and to love each other. Its nice to have a grand mission, and I do have one of those, but even so I think the grandest mission and the simplest purpose for me in life is to support and love other people, no matter what. I also know that doing something that I love to do doesn’t necessarily mean that it brings me jumping up-and-down joy, it brings me more of a sense of quiet peace.”

-Lisa Wilson

Celebrity Experience

“We were told to wait outside of the Ivy Restaurant in California. All of a sudden he came out with some friends and he was very happy. Immediately we started taking pictures of him, and we started asking him for his autograph, and he turned really, really nasty. Started dropping a bunch of really bad language and stuff like that. And so then we asked him to take a picture with us, and that’s when he started dropping even more bad language on us. So the picture that you see here is him totally fake. He looks happy, but as soon as that picture was taken, right after it he just continued to blast us for waiting outside the restaurant for him.” – Kevin McCarthy