Before I Die: Los Al Students Turn Bucket Lists into Art

Some are amusing.

Have a kid named Quincy and build him a tree house.

Some are familiar.

Fall in love.

And some are haunting.

Finally throw my razors away and watch my scars fade.

Those writings and hundreds more coat a Los Alamitos High School classroom wall as students -- and even some teachers -- take part in a global art project that showcases community answers to a simple question: “What do you want to do before you die?”

“Inspire others with my art.”

The idea for the board came to life in a class about death. 

English Teacher Lori Franzen teaches a class called thanatology — the study of mortality and related issues. Students who take the elective talk about the religious views, philosophical ideas and legal issues about the Long Goodbye.

In May, Franzen, a 21-year LAHS veteran, showed her students a video of a speech by Candy Chang, a New Orleans-based artist who started the first ‘Before I Die’ board on an abandoned house after she lost someone she loved.

She suggested a similar project at the school. Her students liked the idea. 

The goal, Franzen said, was to “create something together so we can have a real conversation about what is important in life.”

Chang’s art project had already blossomed in a number of places around the world, including Mexico, Israel, Britain and South Korea. 

So the Los Alamitos students donated money for supplies and painted a classroom wall with chalkboard paint to start their own ‘Before I Die’ board on May 15.  
“Be brave enough to live”

As bucket lists go, it’s one of the more vibrant.

A rainbow of colored chalk, the board includes drawings of arrows, peace signs, stars, and faces.

Students come voluntarily in on their breaks as well as before and after school to write their feelings anonymously.

And it’s not just young people taking part.  

“Teachers come in and write things too, and that’s been really cool for the kids to see,” Franzen said. 

Franzen’s one of them. She has a couple up there. 

For Franzen, a Rossmoor resident, it’s not about focusing on death, it’s about learning how to live better.

“The wall says ‘Before I die.’ But, at the same time, to live well is to die well,’” Franzen said. “So how do we make the most out of our lives? How do we use the time that we have?”

”Have no REGRETS!”

Not everything on the board is positive. 
“Sometimes you read it, and it hurts,” Franzen said.

Students write about their regrets, their conflicts and their anxieties.

“Not be sad when I look in the mirror,” someone wrote. 

But, to Franzen, the board reflects what it’s like to be 17- and 18-years-old — the good and the bad.

And sometimes, she adds, the board gives people the opportunity to encourage each other. 

In response to the statement about wanting to throw the razors away, someone wrote “Let this person know they are loved.” 

And, Franzen does erase some comments. She removes any obscene drawings, as well as quotes from people who she feels aren’t taking it serious. 

”I have veto,” she said, especially since it’s in the back of her classroom and otherwise she’d have “look at it all day.”

‘Experience zero gravity’ 

When the board is completely full, Franzen and the students plan to take pictures of it and post them around the room, then erase the chalk and start over. 

But for now, there’s still room on the board, Franzen said.    

Though Franzen estimates there are about 250 statements up there already, the answers keep coming.  

“Kids are adding to it every single day,” Franzen said. ”Every single day there's more and more and more, all the way around the sides and in-between the lines and up around the letters at the top.”

More from the board:

• Explore an abandoned building.  
  
• Solve a mystery
  
• Sky dive with my best friend
  
• Surf the world
  
• Tell someone I love them
  
• Forgive my family
  
• Survive the apocalypse
  
• Marry my one true love
  
• Write a best seller
  
• Learn to forget
  
• Own a ranch
  
• Feel important