Alejandra, you are right. You are far older than twelve. The complexity of the sounds in this piece are so well-put together, like a baby-doll dress with all the trimmings. The overlapping sounds; her narration, the upbeat song and the running sewing machine in the background makes this piece so lighthearted and optimistic. By the end of this piece, I could feel her dreams rise out of the construction papers where they were laid down, on to a mannequin in Fashion Design school. The only missing stitch to this piece was the invisible elephant — Alejandra's mother. She plays such a large part in Alejandra's life. Her decisions ride on her mother teaching her sewing, her mother talking about fashion school. I wish I could hear her voice, as well. This piece, though short, is far more complex and interesting than a pad of brightly colored construction paper.

Alejandra is, in my mind, waaaay older than 12. From the way she speaks, to the writing of this piece... we see an amazing bit of work coming from such a young person in radio.

There is very good use of "showing not telling" going on here. Alejandra takes us from her being a little girl, to her looking towards her future. Her words put us in the situation, and we can see what she is talking about. There are some moments where a small pause or change in dialog speed would help, but those skills take several pieces to learn.

What I love are small moments where we get to see little bits of the way that Alejandra's life has changed. When she says that her mother has still never taught her how to sew, we wonder what has happened in recent years that has caused this.

There is a fine balance here of showing us what is happening, but leaving out certain information. Because she only gives us parts of the story we get to fill what we think is happening. This is very charming.

The only discernible issue is the ambient sound of the sewing machine. I'm not sure what the solution is because, yes, all sewing machines sound like that... but it also sounded like a lawnmower, gears, etc... maybe it would help if you pointedly said "There is my mother, sewing, in the garage" before you pull up the sound of the machine.

Question: I think this confused me... why is it called Dollar Tree Dreams? Was this literally a project. I think it would help if you addressed it further on the Web site or in the piece.

matt terrell
youth editorial board
generation.prx.org