I have heard about, addictions such as alcohol and drugs that youth abuse to feel comforted. However never before have I heard about a story such as "Ill Quit Cutting When You Quit Smoking." The girl in the story does not abuse heroine, or drink alcohol, instead, she mutilates herself. She wants her mother to quit smoking before she quits cutting. It all started when one day she was washing the dishes and a piece of glass cut her by mistake she did not notice until she saw the blood. Her feeling of anger and tension was replaced with joy. This story was placed at the very beginning of the piece, serving as a way of capturing the listeners' attention. The narration was filled with emotion, and the stern tone in her voice helps to make the piece authentic, you can feel her hurt. The music added to the feeling of great pain. The pacing in this piece is what I like most it flowed smoothly, from mistakenly cutting herself; to gradually reaching a point where she feels cutting is living. However I felt that toward the ending there were unnecessary gaps where there was no music, and it distracted me. I will definitely remember this piece for years to come; it is rare and very interesting."

"No sane person intentionally hurts themselves," April Winburn says in this autobiographical explanation of cutting, a version of self-mutilation that has become disturbingly common among adolescent girls, Her statement is meant to mock the double standards set by the adults in her life, chiefly a chain-smoking mother who rues her daughter's bizarre addiction but won't model the recovery process by ending her own cycle of abuse. The same accusatory tone permeates WInburn's piece and keeps it from rising above the level of adolescent angst. That's unfortunate because Winburn has focused on a topic of great importance to parents, educators, and other youths, and she makes some powerful and intelligent connections. But the lack of outside commentary, research, or a broader context for understanding the practice of cutting causes this documentary to sound more like a recruiting tool than a cautionary tale.
I hope Winburn will continue sharing her impressive voice with us. But first I wish she would concentrate on getting well.