Week 11 Storytelling: BBF: Best Brother Forever

To whom it may concern:

Hi, I'm Jordan, and I'm writing this to tell you about my awesome and talented brother Jackson. We're twins, so I've literally known this guy for longer than I'll ever know anyone else, which is a real treat because I don't know of a single person who I think is better than Jackson. He and I were both dancers, but a few years ago I gave that up to start choreographing other dancers in small productions around New York City. I started to gain some fame fairly quickly, but after I had three shows that were reviewed really well, I had one that kind of tanked. Jackson was always the better choreographer, but he really wanted to make it as a dancer, so I just asked him for a few pointers on how to return to the glowing reviews I had gotten in the past. Jackson totally went above and beyond for me and he choreographed almost an entire show for me!

As much as I appreciated my brother helping me out so much, I told him there was no way I could just take his work like that. I could tell this was much better than any work I had ever done, and I didn't want to take away attention from Jackson when I knew he deserved to be praised for his tremendous work. We argued back and forth for a while, and ultimately I agreed to put my name on the choreography on one condition, that Jackson danced the main part. Since I was just starting out, we were on a smaller stage than Jackson was used to, so he was a little hesitant. But I knew that if he danced in this show that he had created, we wouldn't be on a small stage for long.

Finally, the big premiere night came and it was a roaring success! Everyone loved the choreography just as much as I suspected, and Jackson had never danced better in his life. After the premiere, the show quickly moved to a larger stage. On the first night in the new theater, I went on stage and announced that the choreography was actually entirely done by Jackson. This really made the critics wild, and Jackson finally got all the fame and recognition he had deserved. And since we tend to do our best work when we're together, I was back on the up and up again as well.


All this to say that I think my brother is a great dancer and man who truly deserves to be on a Wheaties box. I've included in this letter a mock-up of what I think a really great box would look like.

Thank you in advance for your consideration,

Jordan

 

Author's note: In the original King Arthur story, Arthur gets a sword out of a rock because he promised his brother he would not return without a sword. However, Arthur's father realizes that this sword actually signifies that Arthur is the rightful king because he is the only one in the whole kingdom who can release the sword from the rock. Even though Arthur immediately gave the sword to his brother and his brother initially (wrongly) thought that he was the king, his brother gladly gave the sword back to Arthur when his father told him Arthur was the one who was the king. I thought it was really cool that Arthur's brother wasn't jealous that Arthur was the king. He was genuinely happy for him. Most stories with brothers holding some sort of power involve a jealous brother who ends up killing the other (Claudius and Hamlet, Romulus and Remus, Cain and Abel, etc). I liked the supportive attitude that Arthur and his brother had, so I decided to make that the theme of my story. I have a brother, and although the sibling rivalry can be very real, we try to focus on building each other up and supporting each other whenever we can.

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Image Information: first picture: Les Twins; second picture I created using two images: Wheaties Box, Les Twins in Air