brinkmag:

HEAVY AND LIGHT 2012

Our hearts are heavy and light.

We laugh and scream and sing.

 Those were the original words written by the founder of local, non-profit To Write Love on Her Arms, Jamie Tworkowski. In 2007, the organization printed shirts with the phrase to help support the family and funeral expenses of Hawthorne Heights’ late guitarist Casey Calvert. TWLOHA shortened the phrase to HEAVY AND LIGHT and used it as the title of their first night of hope and conversation.

BRINK was excited to head out to House of Blues - Orlando to share in the hopeful evening. The show was filled with well-known names like Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Concessional and rising stars like Noah Gundersen and Mariah McManus. The lineup also featured musical legends William Fitzsimmons, David Bazan of Pedro the Lion and spoken work poet Anis Mojgani.

Proceeds for the show will further TWLOHA’S mission to directly aid in the recovery of those struggling with depression, addiction, self injury, and other issues that are often overlooked. People from all over the country flew in and drove to attend the anticipated night of music and strong words. One in particular was our favorite One Tree Hill starlit Sophia Bush! Ms. Bush is a huge supporter and friend of TWLOHA. She said a few words encouraging the ideals TWLOHA stands for and introduced the only female artist of the night – Mariah McManus.

That wasn’t the only surprise in store for those in attendance.

If you think back to last spring, you may have stumbled into a few production sets around town. Those were for the movie RENEE. It’s a highly anticipated independent film about Tworkowski’s friend Renee Yohe, who initially inspired the beginnings of TWLOHA. Yohe took a moment that night to show an exclusive clip of the movie, which is set to release sometime this year.

The evening ended with headliner Chris Carrabba’s performance and the collaborative encore of the entire musical lineup. The music may have stopped, but Tworkowski assured the audience that the conversations and hope don’t have to. He ended the night with a reminder of the true meaning for HEAVY AND LIGHT.

“It’s our belief that everyone is living a story. We’re not trying to impress you with a story that they made a movie about, a story that started this organization, or even the stories of the folks that have stood here on this stage. We do this because of the folks that come out. There are parts of that story that we wish we could forget or change. Than we have the parts in our story that make us come alive. Your story is priceless and sacred. It deserves, or maybe even requires, other characters. We were not meant to do this life alone. It’s something we have to fight for and choose. We believe that the fight is worth it.”

If you weren’t able to attend this year’s HEAVY AND LIGHT, you still have a chance! Thanks to a grant from the American Giving Awards, TWLOHA is able to take their semi-annual show to other cities across the country. Check out TWLOHA.com for upcoming dates and events. You can also check out the RENEE Facebook Page for more updates about RENEE. 

 -Melody Austin

-Photos via Ryan Gamma (TWLOHA)