As of 31/08/23, I (Kira) have officially left scratch. I’m 17 and going into my final year of high school (but I live in the UK, so for me that is year 13 of secondary school), and all my focus needs to be on working hard on my studies in physics, maths and computer science. This focus is the only way to get into the right universities to follow my dream of studying physics. So it’s an ending, but an exciting one! What this means practically, is I might still use scratch occasionally as a tool for art and planning python code, and if I’m proud of something I’ve made for other reasons I might publish it here, but I won’t be interacting with the community anymore. What this means emotionally is a little more difficult to describe. While this specific account is only two years old, I’ve been in the scratch community for nearly six years. I’ve written stories, made art, tried my hand at activism, begun making five audiobooks, role-played, had an aesthetics page, made little rubbish games, debated, tried to follow everyone on scratch, gone from asking what a pride flag is to proudly waving the lesbian one, shared poetry, voice acted, made infographics, been part of the welcoming committee, had looong breaks, done scratch writing camp, sung, started singing competitions, arranged music, started a scratch choir, started a scratch newspaper, and had many arguments but made many more wonderful friends. All of this over the span of more than 20 different accounts, all representing a different part of me, all supporting me in discovering who I am as a person. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that scratch creates so many opportunities for young people. For those of you still early on your scratch journeys, grab all of those opportunities with two hands, and when they no longer serve you or represent you, let them go. That’s okay! That’s how you grow. Be sensible. Be safe. Be kind. Have balance (you will regret spending more time on scratch than with your friends and family). But have fun! Have *so* much fun. Sappy bit over. Well, sort of. I’d like to give some honourable mentions to people that have inspired or impacted me on my time on Scratch, throughout my different accounts. @sweetcakefamily, @climatechangeisreaI (the tribute), , , . Some I’ve never spoken to, some have left long ago, but thank you you guys :) (there goes the infamous smiley emoticon. i'll miss her) Also a very big thank you and a very big sorry to any actors who have ever auditioned for any of my audio projects - Harry Potter Attempt One (), Harry Potter Attempt Two (this account), Tales not Forgotten and Beneath a Shadowed Star. I’ve been a terrible director, having cancelled all four before they even got to the trailer stage. I guess I suffer from a bad case of overestimating my own time and abilities over and over. You are all very very talented people and deserved much better than me - the projects, and your wonderful incarnations of my characters, live on in my heart. I'm not deleting the account or unsharing many projects because I hope people will still enjoy my projects for a bit - I'm quite proud of some of my art, and so many people saved Five Word Prompts that it would be cruel to keep it for myself! However, I have unshared projects with my writing in, especially for my novel - just in case I want to publish it for real later, I don't want it already existing on Scratch to cause issues. Sorry for the long text. In summary - I love you all, follow your dreams, and scratch on! ~ Kira (aka eva, aka blibby, aka kai, aka aspen, aka lorelai, aka misty, aka crystal, etc etc)
