Sydney Kerner likes Quentin Tarantino and hopes to follow in his footsteps as a filmmaker.
MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Sunday, May 4, 2008 7:00 pm
Last year … I did a human rights video (about Darfur) and I loved it. That’s pretty much what started it out. And then I did a graduation video last year, too.
I remember watching movies like “300” and “Sin City.” I love Quentin Tarantino, and I was like, ‘I can do that,’ you know. That’s cool. Just all those cool effects. That’s what I want to do.
There’s a lot of work involved, but then the end result is what’s so cool.
The video part is not really my favorite. It’s the editing.
I’m actually working on a project now with a veteran who was in the Battle of the Bulge.
Over at (the Information Technology Focus Program) I was doing a graphic design class … my teacher asked asked if anyone would like to do the movie with (a veteran) and I was the first one.
The Information Technology Focus Program sent me something in the mail and I was reading about it and I was all about it. I had to write an essay and I had to get two recommendation letters to get in there. But it’s great.
I have a sister and she’s got a little baby girl, my niece (Ava). She just turned 1 March 21.
I’ve started putting together a little movie of her for the family. Just pictures of her. Just goofy stuff, ’cause she’s such a character. Sometimes I’ll have my video camera out and she’ll do something just so funny and it’s just so perfect. She is adorable.
(My sister), she’s like my best friend. As a young mom, I just think that some people just kind of look down on somebody, but that’s something to look up to somebody for. I think they have no idea. No idea. Everybody knows how hard it is to be a teenager, alone. So I definitely admire her.
I’ve got my own little baby, too, my puppy. A red-nosed pit bull. Everybody says, “Oh it’s a pit bull,” but it’s all about the owner.
My mom was kind of a pushover when it came to the pets. She couldn’t say no. We had everything. She didn’t like snakes or anything, but we snuck them in. We were funny kids. We didn’t care what it was … frogs, baby birds. We had a squirrel.
As a kid, I was just a little troublemaker running around having mud fights.
I was a good kid, too, you know. We had neighbors, they were an old couple. Harold (was in) a hospital bed. And I always felt bad for him because he couldn’t get out and see things. So I’d always color pictures and put them on the closet doors so his closet would be full of pictures.
Bryan (Community) I think is just the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I just wasn’t doing well (at Southeast). It was too big. When you’re here, people know you. At Southeast it’s just too easy for kids to just skip out on class. Every teenager is just insecure or whatever. Everybody has their issues and I had a bunch of home issues, too, so you just have to be in a good place. And I think Bryan is a great place.
Here, the teachers really get into your life. Not only do they care about you succeeding at school, they care about you succeeding in life and in jobs and in college.
I think that’s really important because … some parents don’t really push their kids to do well and somebody kind of has to. It should be up to the student, but it’s not always like that. Some people just need a kick in the butt, you know, to get going. I kind of kicked myself in the butt.
I’m doing a promotional video (about the school). I know a lot of people don’t think very great about Bryan. They say all the bad kids go here … that’s not how it is. Some people don’t know it exists, then other people get the wrong picture. So I think my video will help clear things up.
The Holocaust (literature) class is something I think everyone should take. It should be a required class. I think it’s important for people to know about it so it doesn’t happen again, because it’s happening in Darfur and nothing’s being done.
(With the Life Stories Project) we sat down and we met with our elders and they told us about their life stories. We could ask them pretty much anything and it’s just something that’s really important.
I wish I would have done this with my Grandpa. My Grandpa passed away just right after Thanksgiving, and he was a veteran, too. I just beat myself up over it because I just could have done that for Ava. I think everybody should do something like that, with their own family.
I could have graduated at semester, but I just thought it would be smart to get as much education while it’s free. Because we are definitely not made out of money so I’m not going to be just put through school.
I’m going to go to (Southeast Community College) and get my general (education courses) for sure. I’ve read up a lot and for the most part (the business) is not so much about school as about experience.
The last official job I had was at Arby’s, and I just can’t do fast food again. Geez, you sure learn some patience there, you know. You learn how to bite your lip and take it.
We’ve done plenty of traveling. Just not recently. But my mom, she used to do like the time share stuff so I’ve been to Hawaii, Canada … Branson. I love Missouri, too.
I went to Missouri with (my boyfriend) and that was awesome. We went up over the Fourth of July. Everybody goes up with their boat and they drop an anchor and they have the fireworks up on the dam and you can see it on the water and everything. That was one of the best Fourth of Julys I’ve ever had.
My mom and dad have been divorced, (since) I was probably, like, 4. That kind of sucks because we could never, ever have the whole family together. It’s like Ava has to have, like, three different birthday parties.
We don’t have the dishwasher and we don’t have a laundry place (in the apartment) so I gotta take it to one of the parent’s house. That’s not fun. It’s good for me though. You never really appreciate the small things until you don’t have them. I never thought a dishwasher would be so cool.
It’s just really been a rough last couple of years. My boyfriend lost both his Grandpa and his Grandma in one year, last year. So that was really horrible. I lost one of my best friends when I was at Southeast. He overdosed on OxyContin. That was just horrible for me.
Then my grandpa passed. He called me El-Sid.
It’s just life experience, you know? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
It just goes to show how important it is for people to stick together. If you have somebody great in your life then you need to keep them around.