Note: The following contains various journal writings, not originally intended for publication. Some wording and phrasing has been restructured to accommodate major grammatical errors. Some issues may still exist.

March 18, 2016. 5:15PM MDT:
I’m heading to school for a tech workshop. It’s a day just like any other. Spring is definitely in the air. The sun sets later, March Madness fills the air, and podcasts sooth the drive. Little did I know that after today, my life would change forever. It was on this drive that I discovered Hamilton.

If you’re like me, a millennial or music fanatic, Hamilton has become more than a name in history. It’s a show, a cultural movement, a lifestyle. It’s been a little over seven months since I first encountered the music and memorized every lyric, character, and song title in the show.

The show is essentially a rap about the life of Alexander Hamilton, who I consider one of our most important (yet, forgotten) founding fathers. He was an orphan who started with nothing, came to America during the revolution, became an aid to George Washington, played a vital role in winning the revolution, and built an impeccable financial system we still use today, only to have his drive and determination become his end. It brings the pages from my history textbooks to life, textbooks which annually accrued dust throughout my years in grade school.

I find it funny how — throughout all that time, within those textbooks-turned-decorations, was a story of a kid just like myself. I relate to Hamilton in so many ways. He was abandoned by his father at a very young age, had to overcome various personal and social issues just to make it into his twenties, but kept pushing on, seizing every opportunity he could. However, the ways in which I relate to Hamilton the most are through his flaws. Like myself, he was deeply flawed in so many different ways. And it’s these weaknesses, the faults of our own, that have held us back in moments where we could have otherwise succeeded. And that’s what made this show very personal to me is that — unlike these books that hold Washington or Adams up on heroic pedestals, the show brings them back to a humanistic level and showed their true colors.

October 21, 2016. 6:55PM MDT:
It’s been more than seven months since I discovered Hamilton, and tonight, its like everything is coming full-circle. PBS is airing the “Hamilton’s America” documentary, which details the six-year journey through the musical’s creation. This is a mainstream, pop-culture sensation that has moved my world, and knowing more about the show’s history is a must for me. #iAmHamilton && “I am just like my country: young, scrappy, and hungry.” Actually, I am hungry. Ya boii wants enchiladas. 6:58. Maybe I’ll wait an hour.

The sensation of Hamilton cannot be written on paper; it’s something that must be experienced. This is a show which brought me to my knees because of how successful these people were despite their flaws, how people just like me could overcome and do great things in life.

As a college student, there is not a single day that goes by without challenges. Some days are downright awful and can make you feel alone in life. I want to end this heartfelt notation with two quotes; inspirational phrases from both the musical and the documentary, and something that helps me survive when the going gets tough:

When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game
But you don't get a win unless you play in the game
Oh, you get love for it, you get hate for it
You get nothing if you
Wait for it, wait for it, wait.

Hamilton to Burr, The Room Where It Happens

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If that's all you’re looking at— is our worst act on our worst day, any one of us could be painted as a villain. It’s really the totality of someone.

-Leslie Odem, Jr. on Alexander Hamilton's murder, Hamilton's America