Page 26 - ABILITY Magazine - Avril Lavigne Issue

And I thought, if she can be a part of this community!
Hendricks: I was 22. The essence of that song is that everyone has an affliction. It took me so long to realize this. It’s really a strength to have this condition, and everybody has a thing. I’m so blessed to have my stuff on the outside, where it’s immediately obvious. It makes those of us with CP a little memorable. It gives the world a little bit of a twinkle because we stand out amongst the billions of people on this planet. What about all the peo- ple who have stuff goin’ on on the inside, trying to figure out a way to express themselves—
Jewell: Yes! Now I’m gonna ask you a tricky question.
Hendricks: About the inspiration thing, right?
Jewell: Yes!
Hendricks: It’s something that I’ve had to grow into, to learn to receive the word. Just because somebody says, “You’re an inspiration,” doesn’t mean that they’re say- ing something as degrading as, “You are less than me.” It just means they see you as having triumphed over adversity, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that as long as it’s genuine and real.
Jewell: —and can’t.
Jewell: Yes.
Hendricks: And there’s this block. But we constantly have people coming up to us, questioning us, entering into our lives via curious conversation, and all of a sudden we’ve created a connection, a ripple effect.
Hendricks: And I think people don’t give children enough credit for their ability to see their own truth. There is something to be said about intuition and gut feelings, and I think young people have a strong sense of those things.
Zimmerman: What do you want the most at this moment in your life?
Zimmerman: As an artist, you bring truth to society through your music.
Hendricks: I want people to wake up. A lot of people are asleep. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping, and there’s nothing wrong with staring, but there are beautiful peo- ple who understand what it means to love. Love is not complicated. Life is complicated. Taxes are complicat- ed, sometimes people are complicated. But love is sim- ple, and there are pockets of people who get it, but that’s not enough. More people need to wake up.
Hendricks: I think I bring my own brand of truth.
Jewell: I like that.
Zimmerman: Your love shines through your music.
Hendricks: I can only hope that people see the good in it, and can absorb it into their lives in their own way. When you write a song, it’ll always be yours. But every time you perform it, people can receive it as something completely different. Music is something you keep and give away at the same time.
Hendricks: Thank you. Music is just as much a connector as anything else.
Jewell: Another amazing thing about music is that it requires that the left and right brain work together.
Jewell: I’m working on a one-woman show, and I wish that I had the ability to sing a song.
Hendricks: Music fires every region of the brain, so why on earth would you pull arts from schools?
Zimmerman: I think that’s BS.
Hendricks: It is BS. (laughs) As a matter of fact, you
Jewell: Music is therapeutic.
sang on The Facts of Life. Jewell: Oh, that wasn’t singing!
Zimmerman: And meditative; it gives you energy.
Hendricks: [singing] “Two for tea and tea for two—” Wasn’t that it?
Hendricks: You can incorporate the arts into every subject and help the learner absorb the subject better.
Jewell: Yes.
Jewell: How do you think we all learned the alphabet— through song! Of all the songs you’ve written, so far, which is your favorite?
Hendricks: That’s pretty good for not having seen the episode in a while!
Hendricks: “Affliction.” It tells my life story and reminds me of my purpose in three minutes and 30 seconds.
Jewell: At the end of that episode, I said, “I love you, Blair.” It wasn’t in the script; I ad libbed that line, and it ended up staying in the cut. But do you know what that line was really about? What I was really saying was, “Oh, I love the fact that I don’t have to sing ‘Tea for Two’ ever again!” (laughs)
Zimmerman: When did you write it?
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