Sloan's World

Christmas came early for Sloan. The wonderful students at Duke finalized his guitar/piano stand, and to break it in, and to thank them for all their hard work, we had a Christmas Jam to celebrate! We shared a bunch of good food and good music with great friends! It is hard to even know where to start describing to folks who weren't here how amazing the party was for Sloan. There was a major jam session led by Sloan, Christmas carols, sing-alongs, ice cream cake!, and a very special surprise gift of three songs from Chris and Aaron of the Chris Hendricks band. Above is a highlight video of the evening, and here is a link to the many, many photos taken to document the fun. A very special Thanks to everyone who came and shared the evening with us, and a very big thanks to Rachel, Kristine, Brendan and Al from the Duke Biomedical Engineering class who made it possible for Sloan to create his music with everyone. A+ guys!Every friend in attendance came bearing their gifts of love, frien

TODAY was finally the day Sloan got to try his Guitar Rig and rock out on his own! How many engineers does it take? Four! Many of you have been hearing us talk about Sloan's Guitar Project that the Duke students are working on this semester for a long time now, but after a lot of hard work from the students over this semester, today it was ready for a trial. They even have it set up so Sloan can use the rig for his piano! Al, Brendan, Kristine, and Rachel have been so fun to work with, and have paid attention to every detail and request with great skill and greater thoughtfulness. Watch the video. Sloan's face says it all. Oh! And to prepare, Sloan has been watching his friend Aaron's videos on the website Free and Easy Guitar . (Aaron is the bass player for the Chris Hendricks Band) I better go warn the neighbors...

The NC State Fair is in town again, and that means another day of "Fairapy" for Sloan and Janie! We had an amazingly awesome time with everyone; Sloan, Janie, Jen, Danicia, Gavin-a friend of Jen's who joined in all of the fun with us, and of course, Chip who scored us free ride tickets and admission! As with previous years, we played a lot of games winning all the big prizes. Janie was great at the dart/balloon games and popped every one! The rides included The Haunted House, and Janie will have to tell you her terrifying, but hilarious, story about The Orbiter. We all rode together in the Ferris Wheel, enjoying the full moon, the cool fall weather, and each other. With such a big gang, we also shared a lot of different kinds of Fair Food. And I mean A LOT! The new thing we all tried this year was the Deep Fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They sound like they have Sloan's name all over them, but I think we all agreed that the Fried Oreos are hard to beat. So it

Sloan in New York City, 2008 And if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, here is a video of Sloan singing Let It Be .

This past month, Sloan and I have ventured into the world of Facebook. We have had accounts for several years, but have just recently jumped on the boat with making it a regular part of our routine. Although we are still figuring it out, it has really been a motivating activity for Sloan's writing progress, and for him to express himself independently. Every morning we discuss what is happening for the day, and he decides on what he wants to write about. As he eats breakfast, he composes the sentence on his computer's keyboard. Sloan works very hard to write and it is very exciting to see him learn and grow everyday. Our experience so far with Facebook has been great. Sloan has been able to connect better with some of his Reality Ministries friends, keep up to date on all the happenings with the local music scene, keep in touch with his favorite Chris Hendricks Band, and share this blog with others. Social Networking indeed! So send him a Friend Request !

On Saturday, September 26th, Durham hosted the annual NC Gay Pride Parade. Sloan was asked by Eric to help him out with the Ben and Jerry's booth, and despite the heat, we were happy to oblige. (Gotta bring home the ice cream!) Sloan helped hand out coupons to the many thousands of people gathering. We met a new friend named Amy dressed up as a cow with a Ben and Jerry's shirt on, who was very cute. Sloan and I decided to take a break and check out the parade since it had not started yet, and as we were walking towards the street, we ran into Amy again. They had put Amy and her friend Bonnie at the head of the parade, and they invited us to join them. Amy shared her huge rainbow flag, and we mounted it on Sloan's chair. The anticipation was exciting, hearing the crowd cheering, and the very impressive motorcycle escort rev up their bikes to lead everyone out. With the motorcycles deployed and a line of flag bearers, there was Sloan flying his flag and cheering, LEADING the

Amazing! That is the only way I can think to describe the night we had seeing the Chris Hendricks Band in Raleigh this evening at Falls River Town Center. The band never disappoints with their music, and Sloan's CHB Street Team efforts paid off, with an entourage of 12 friends and family members in attendance. Sloan was very happy and proud to share the experience with everyone! Sloan was excited all day leading up to the show, and danced and sang during every single song. Then the main event for him happened--- Chris called Sloan up to sing Let It Be ! Chris, Aaron and Mike were so helpful these past few weeks getting this together, and very gracious and generous to share that experience with Sloan. Thank you so much guys! You are truly the best! And thanks to Noah for always being Sloan's music assistant; nurturing, practicing, and encouraging his musical interests and talents. In Chris' video and interviews, he talks very openly about his Cerebral Palsy. When we were sen

Sloan is now an official member of the Chris Hendricks Band Street Team! It is his job to go out to their shows, get his friends to join him, wear the coolest band T-Shirt ever, and just rock out to the music Chris and the band make. Pretty awesome gig right? Well, his first duty is to inform all of his friends that this Thursday, September 16th, the Chris Hendricks Band will be performing at a free show from 7:00-9:00 at Falls River Town Center in Raleigh. Click the link for details and directions! And BONUS!!!! Sloan will be doing an encore performance of Let It Be with the Band during the show! If you haven't seen Sloan's version, you can find it here . (Scroll down and click play) So come out and hear some great music from the Chris Hendricks Band!! Bring a picnic and some chairs too! For more information about the Chris Hendricks Band, here is their website and a really cool video about Chris and his music. Thanks! The Chris Hendricks Band Street Team (AKA Sloan) (T

Sloan has been volunteering at the Durham Center for Senior Life for almost a year now. He goes there with Noah three times a week in the afternoons to help the Seniors learn how to play the Wii in their game room. He has made many friends, and has helped out a lot of people. It has been a wonderful job for him, and today was their Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. Sloan received an award, had an amazing lunch, and was made to feel very appreciated for the work he does. Good Job Sloan!!

Sloan has made another Rock Star friend! After receiving an announcement from our new friend Megan Cutter (she did the Writing Workshop at Sloan's Reality Ministries Day Camp) that The Chris Hendricks Band was playing in Raleigh, we skipped out on music therapy, loaded up in the van with Noah, and hit the road. It was a great time! We saw Megan again and met her husband Barton, who is also a writer. And the band!!! Sloan was instantly focused on the music, and it was definitely excellent music. You can check out their website to hear a sample, or watch this intro video to the band. During the break, we got to meet the band and talk and hang out a little bit. Then after the show, everyone hung out and talked and had so much fun together. Chris is a very cool and positive guy in addition to being an amazing musician! Sloan added another awesome band T-shirt to his collection, and has already listened to the band's cd several times. We will definitely be following Chris and his

In 2001, The City of Raleigh Arts Commission hosted a public art project called the Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble. Many artists worked to create 100 wolves for the project that roamed around the City. The wolf I created with Sloan was called The Sloan Wolf. (what else?) It was co-sponsored by Arts Access and The BTI Center for Performing Arts (Currently Progress Energy Center), and was on display in the lobby of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium for many years. The Sloan Wolf was created to be a public art piece accessible to all members of the public. It features colored beads (over 15,000), turf and other objects so you can feel, not just see, the colors. It includes words in Braille, and a sound feature with three communication switches with Sloan's voice recorded on them. A few years ago, it was donated to Marbles, a downtown Raleigh Children's Museum. It gets a lot of love from all the children visiting the museum, and nine years after being born, is in need of some renovation and rep

What? Cameron, Sloan's friend and Triathlon Partner, has been watching the World Cup games and is convinced that Sloan was secretly playing on the German soccer team with the name Mesut Ozil. Here is his evidence . They definitely have the same game face! (Too bad he doesn't have Sloan's curly hair though! ) GOOOOAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes the pictures just speak for themselves! This is Sloan's very own electric guitar. He loves cranking up the amp, and playing it very loudly. This fall we will have four students from Duke's biomedical engineering program working with us to develop from scratch a rig for Sloan's chair that will allow him to play the guitar on his own. Tune up your guitars! A massive jam session is being planned!

On Saturday, April 24th 2010, there was the second Kings and Queens Dance at the Reality Center hosted by Reality Ministries. Sloan and Janie began preparing probably over a month ago. First was the invitation for Janie to be Sloan's date to the dance. She said "YES!" Then Sloan had to take his tuxedo in for cleaning. The flowers had to be ordered, and the van washed off and cleaned out. (Thanks Noah!) Janie had her own preparations getting her dress ready, and having a friend come over for hair and make-up. Sloan and Janie had discussed where to go to dinner, and Janie suggested Satisfaction in Durham's Brightleaf Square. So the big day came, and Sloan and Janie were all dressed up and looking spectacular! We arrived at Brightleaf and had a fun dinner. Our friend Meredith joined us for the dinner, and it was so nice to hang out with her. Thank you Meredith! After taking a bunch of pictures, it was time to leave for the dance. Reality Ministries is amazing in their ab

On April 23rd, Sloan saw his good friend Billy Jonas in concert for the third time this year! Billy had his whole band with him, which we hadn't heard before live, and they were amazing. Billy and the band played at the Six String Cafe in Cary. Dinner and the concert that night were part of Sloan's birthday present for Janie, and she was very excited about it, and Sloan was very happy to share Billy's music with her. Our other special guest for the evening was Jenna, Sloan and Janie's music therapist from Voices Together. Sloan shares his news in his music group, and had told the group about meeting Billy and seeing his shows. Jenna has one of Billy's cds and knew and loved his music, so we asked her to join us! She is not only an excellent music teacher, but incredibly fun to hang out with! Almost as soon as we walked in the door, we were excitedly greeted by Ashley and Billy. Sloan updated Billy on what has been going on with him, and we got to meet the other me

April has been jam-packed full of fun stuff for Sloan! In addition to his work schedule, meetings, and social groups, we had some extra special things to do. We started off April with my birthday and Easter and a special visit from my nephew Cody from New York. Sloan was the official "Stroller" for the weekend, and had a blast with Cody running around the house and taking him to different places in Durham. Next up was a sneaky bowling trip with Janie, Amy and Samantha. (shh...Sloan skipped work to go!) And for the first week in April, Sloan and I made several attempts to go to a Durham spring carnival at the Stadium. We kept missing it, and on Friday of that week we FINALLY had success! Eureka! We had been talking about corn dogs and funnel cakes all week, and when we finally got them....so good! Sloan had to get a few games in and racked up on the stuffed animals too! On the 10th, we took a day trip to Asheboro for the Zoo! We went with a big group from Reality Ministries,

On Saturday, March 27th, the C&S Express completed their second annual Great Human Race in downtown Durham to raise money for Reality Ministries. It was an early start to the day; we had to be there at 7:30 in the morning, but Sloan was ready to roll! It was a bit cooler out that early too, but the sun was bright and shining, and Cameron and Sloan finished the 5K run in 28 minutes! Good job Team! A big group from Reality came out this year to do the walk part of the race, including Janie who rode her bike. Check out more great photos in the gallery on the right!

Yesterday was Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's! Sloan has become friends with Eric, the owner of our local Ben and Jerry's , and Sloan offered to help out on the busy, busy day. It was a big turn out, no surprise. (Last year they had over 4,000 line up for a free cone.) It was Sloan's job to help people keep in line and to help collect donations for Duke Children's Hospital for Ben and Jerry's. Eric made sure Sloan was appropriately decked out, and he had his own Cone Day shirt with Staff written on the sleeve. He also came equipped with his Ben and Jerry's bracelet and button that Eric gave him. Sloan did not miss out on his free cone either: Chocolate Fudge Brownie! Thanks to Eric for the fun opportunity!! (More Pictures in the gallery!)

Sloan participated in the Reality Ministries 2010 Talent Show along with many of his friends from TNL. It was so amazing and fun to watch everyone share their talents. Sloan had been preparing his act for several weeks before the show. He knew he wanted to play his piano, then about 4 days before the talent show, I overheard Noah and Sloan singing together. They were singing Let It Be by the Beatles. Sloan has been practicing that song with his Voices Together group, and I had heard him sing it before, but not like he was singing with Noah. I asked him if they would like to do that song for the talent show as well as the piano, and then the serious practice began. The big night came, and Sloan was slated to go on in the middle of all the performances. It was a packed house, with people standing in the back. Cameron brought out his crazy Don Seacrestki (Related to Ryan Seacrest???) character again, and worked the crowd like no one else can. To see and hear Sloan and Noah performing for

Last weekend Sloan and I took a quick trip to Roanoke, Virginia to visit Ricky and Flo. We had a great time, and the weather was perfect!! It was cool to still see snow in the mountains too, while wearing T-shirts! While there, we also had a chance to check in with Sloan's good friend Billy Jonas. He was playing at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke, and BONUS! he was playing two sets of his show! It was so good to see Billy again, and Sloan had a lot of time to hang out with him and talk to him. His music was, of course, excellent and fun, and we even got to send Ricky and Flo on stage with him to play his drums during a song. Billy incorporated some of Sloan's sounds into an improvised song, which was an awesome little tune about Big Foot. We hope Billy is getting a much deserved break and rest back in Asheville! We will see you in Raleigh in April Billy!

Last month, Sloan got a new piece of equipment called a stander. It helps him get into a new position, and makes his bones strong. He loves getting in it whenever he can, and he is SO TALL!! He measures exactly 5' tall, and when you add in the few inches the stander sits above the ground and three inches of hair, he is a GIANT! Sloan's very favorite thing to do while in the stander is to listen and dance to Punk Rock music! (I am so proud.) He is sating his appetite with The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, and all the classics we can dig up. OY!

Last week, Sloan began his new job! He is going a few days a week to the Durham Center for Senior Life to volunteer with the Seniors. Doing what? What else would Sloan's dream job be-- Playing Wii!!!! The Center has a new Wii room, and Sloan will be there to make new friends, invite seniors to play, and share his skills with them. He has his own briefcase filled with his library of games, and all of his other cool accessories. This week the center was hosting their Senior Games, and Sloan had a chance to cheer on their Wii bowling tournament. Usually when work is mentioned around Sloan, his reaction is to say "Yuck", but he definitely doesn't seem to mind this kind of work!

On January 16th, Sloan had his first annual Rock Star Birthday party. I know, his birthday is in December, but he is usually out of town partying with his family. Sloan has so many friends, that he wanted to celebrate with them too. And was it ever a celebration!! As our guest list grew, we soon realized that our little house was not going to be big enough. Reality Ministries came through for us again in a big way, and let us use the very cool game room at the Reality Center, absolutely free of charge. Thanks Reality Ministries!! Then planning mode kicked in, and Sloan had a lot of responsibilities in helping out with gathering the things we were going to need. He did an excellent job. So how did we do a Rock Star party???? Sloan's Entourage was in tow, with his agent, his stage mom/caterer, his roadie, drummer, back-up singers, and even the Paparrazi. All of Sloan's guests had to have VIP badges to get in "backstage." We invited everyone to rock out with their gear.

It has been absolute Beatles Mania around here since Christmas. Rock Band Beatles is in danger of wearing out already, and Sloan's friends have been more than willing to help him out with this habit. Courtesy of Jen, we all went to another show at the Cat's Cradle to see a Beatles cover band called Abbey Road LIVE!. They were AWESOME! It was a really fun show, and of course, Sloan got to meet one of the singers and guitar players. (George?) The Beatles game has also been a lot of fun for party purposes. It was a big hit at the Rock Star party.(More on that later.) One night, Jen and Sloan invited some friends from UNC over to play after some pizza at CiCi's. It was rockin'! Sloan was a very good "Paul"-like frontman. Thanks Jen, Easha, Lauren, Geo, Dorothy, and Ben! And, Ladies and Gentleman, introducing the one-of-kind original "Sloat." (The Sloan Coat) Noah employed his handy dandy creative skills and took a very cool coat, and adapted it to fit S

It has been a while since our last post! So much has happened. The holiday season was a whirlwind of joy and exciting happenings. It might take me a while to catch everyone up. T hanksgiving! Sloan was in Mississippi for Thanksgiving with his Grandma, Aunt Linda (Bubby), Aunt Max and Aunt Alda from Houston, and Aunt Joey and Uncle Dan from Missouri. Sloan's mom and I travelled with him, so it was a full house. Sloan ate constantly, and Grandma obliged by supplying him with all the good food she could whip up. (and that is saying something!) Grandma was very proud to have Sloan with her at church. He got an epic Opera lesson from Joey and Dan. (Both professional singers and music professors at the University of Missouri.) Aunt Max got a crash course in Wii technology. Sloan also got to meet his "cousin" Nina, and Alda helped him have a conversation with some of her family and friends in Brazil over the computer. "Beju!" And no trip to Mississippi is complete