I Am a Mother of Eleven (Plants)

October 1st

It goes all the way back to my childhood years when I would walk outside our sliding glass doors that lead to the deck, and I’d hop in the swimming pool—making sure an was adult present, of course—and do handstands underwater. Our home sits near a creek, so much to our dismay, some small creatures have been known to find their way into said swimming pool… thankfully, I’d find them either before or after swimming. (I assume it’s not pleasant to find these creatures while you can’t breathe and have to paddle away from them, but that’s just my guess.) I have always loved animals, and I wanted to be a vet as a kid, so I tried to save these little creatures at all costs. In my youth, I’ve found a scared newborn bunny, a chipmunk that took one step too many in the direction of the pool, a few salamanders, and a few dumb frogs that just thought they found an extravagant lake. I’d scoop up these creatures from our pool and try to revive them by either drying them off, feeding them, or simply providing them with a plastic container as their makeshift shelter. However, I was not very good at saving these creatures; the salamanders always ran away and so did the frogs, and that little bunny eventually stopped breathing, even after I fed it via a dropper. My claim to fame is that I saved that drowning chipmunk… but he bit me as a Thank You for saving him from his little adventure in the pool, so I flicked him from my hand, and I think he landed in the bushes—I did not see that little guy after that.

I was also the same way with my plants. Surprise me with a succulent? I’ll somehow dry it out. Find a cute cactus? You know, the plants that claim to be virtually impossible to kill? I have killed two thus far. But for some reason, living in a house my last semester of college has turned my life around, because I now officially have not one, but eight plants alive and well!

November 21st

I have lost a dear plant but gained four more! Long story short, I put one of my ferns outside for a few hours because the house needed to get sprayed, and I didn’t want my plant babies to choke on any hazardous fumes. Well, they didn’t choke, but they sure did suffer from a little something I like to call: direct sunlight. (My bad.)

Here is a list of my plants that are still alive and well:

  • Zebra grass spider plant — He was really suffering for a few days, so I took apart each sprig and its roots, and then put them all in a pot of filtered water. They all transformed into perky, bright green spider plants overnight!

  • A propagated zebra grass spider plant — Let’s just say that there once were three, and now there’s one. But, that one is thriving like no other. Apparently he just didn’t want to share the mug that I planted him in with two of his friends.

  • Two Hawaiian spider plants (one small and one large) — I transported these guys all the way from back home, and they are loving life.

  • Two propagated Hawaiian spider plants — They are loving life in small vases of water.

  • Snake plant, AKA the mother-in-law’s tongue plant — If I were an interior designer, I would say that this plant makes a statement… mostly because it requires a very large pot, so it takes up more room than my other ones.

  • Round cactus — Wow. This little guy has been with me since my junior year of college. If you remember seeing my picture of those three cacti on the shelf in my dorm room, he was the one in the terra cotta pot that actually lived. “The little cactus that lived…”

  • Crispy wave fern — I have this air-purifying number in a mini terra cotta pot on the side table by my bed.

  • A basket of laceleaf (Anthurium) with another mystery plant — My mom sent me this one on my birthday (a wonderful surprise) and these guys are still alive and kicking and looking beautiful while doing so.

  • Devil’s ivy - I just got this one a few days ago, and it’s now hanging from a wall mount. I read that they can grow up to 40 ft long or so outdoors and 6-8 ft indoors? Wow, what a dream come true.

  • Round cactus — Wow. This little guy has been with me since my junior year of college. If you remember seeing my picture of those three cacti on the shelf in my dorm room, he was the one in the terra cotta pot that actually lived. “The little cactus that lived…”

Since I am unable to have a dog at this time, my plants are like stand-in dogs. Even though they’re not furry or greet me when I get home, they make me happy. (And some of them help purify the air that I breathe, so that’s a plus.)

Reagan Fleming

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Short Term 12 →

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A good story, whether it be in a movie, song, book, or show, can have the power to make people feel something.

I recently watched a film called Short Term 12, which follows the life of a head counselor (played by Brie Larson) of a treatment facility for adolescents (one of which is Lakeith Stanfield from Get Out). The movie delves into how Larson's character and the rest of the counselors interact with each other and those that live there. Both groups deal with numerous ups and downs throughout the movie, which slowly reveal to the viewer (and the characters themselves) that common ground can be found between any two people. It was filmed in such a way that I, as a viewer, felt that I was merely a fly on the wall while they lived their lives. Time didn't speed up in certain scenes and slow down in others like movies often do; the movie just was. 

When I decided to watch this movie, it was only after I had spent 20 minutes or so scrolling through Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu, looking at their options, and then another 10 minutes or so of watching trailers of said movies until I got to Short Term 12. The music is what got me at first; just by listening to the music in the trailer (and obviously watching the actual trailer itself), I knew that this would probably be a heart-wrenching movie—I was right. I enjoy emotional and/or inspirational movies because there aren’t that many out there. It’s pretty special when you stumble upon a really good one.

The way the movie was filmed, the beautiful soundtrack that I am listening to while writing this, and the impressive acting from both the adults and young adults allowed me to connect with the characters in the film. I was stunned at how each and every one of the actors was able to develop his or her own character and wrap me into the story so deeply and quickly. It seemed as if each little piece of the story was carefully planned out and nothing was in there without a purpose.

Short Term 12 won a few independent film awards as well as one at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in the year 2013. Honestly, at first glance, the awards are what got me interested in watching this movie; I tend to trust movies that have those antler-like leaves on the movie poster that surround the words like “Sundance” or "winner of" or "finalist". Yes, yes, this makes me sound like a typical movie-fiend-faker, I understand. But, I know from past experience that these movies (at least the ones I've seen thus far) tend to be thought-provoking and leave me feeling something that I can't quite put into words, even after the credits start rolling. I love the feeling after I've seen a good movie, when the screen is completely black and the credits roll and all I can do is sit there, trying to make sense of what I just watched. But even while my thoughts jumble around, thinking up alternate endings and piecing together any loose ends or cliffhangers, I feel a sense of peace for some reason. I don't know why, but this happens when I hit the jackpot in movie-watching. 

In the above picture, Jayden (one of the at-risk teens at the facility) had just shared an original children’s story with Grace (Larson’s character). Grace later informs her supervisor about this story along with their conversation that proceeded it by asserting, “…last night, that girl sat next to me and she cried and she tried to tell me the only way that she knew how.” The thoughts and emotions rumbling around in Grace’s head as she listened to Jayden tell her the story was palpable. I would include a clip of this scene, but I think it would be more impactful to watch the movie from start to finish.

I had to include the clip that the above picture is referencing, because it’s too good of a clip not to. Lakeith Stanfield’s performance as Marcus is so good that it leaves not only Mason speechless (the counselor in the room), but the audience as well. Until this moment, Marcus appeared to simply be a quiet, yet troubled kid. In this scene, when Marcus shares an original rap with Mason, the said counselor, both Mason and the audience are finally able to peer a little bit more into Marcus’ head and better understand the reasons behind why he’s at the group home in the first place.

A lot of the movies nowadays, whether it be in the theater or on a streaming service, are not as substantive as they could be. Don't get me wrong, I love Hot Rod as much as the next person, but it's important to have more movies, books, and TV shows available that can help readers and viewers discover things they didn't know about themselves and/or those around them. I think that it would be fun to write movie scripts, because movies are another medium, like books, that can help people feel understood and simply feel something.

Here's a link to the trailer so you can decide if this film seems like your cup of tea. (If you decide to watch it, let me know what you think about it in the comments below.)

Reagan Fleming