The All Our Crowns Project

Welcome!

Welcome to the All Our Crowns Project!

Here, our goal is to not be afraid of being who you are. I've always dreamed of being a princess, and here, I guess I can be. 

My name is Aeney. 
Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a princess. I remember living in my Snow White costume as a four-year-old. I'd draw myself paper tiaras and use chopsticks with stars taped to the end as my magic wand. 
As a seven-year-old I had a pink nightgown printed with crowns. I loved that nightgown. I've been a tomboy since the beginning of time, but it felt so good  to be a princess. My dog Bobo (Rest in peace, Bobo Baby) was my loyal subject. I ruled over him and my dolls. I still dream about the Good Old Days, when I could wear my princess dress over my muddy shorts and grass-stained shirt and put a scribbled tiara onto my head over my messy hair and it was okay. 

To me, being a princess was the Ultimate Goal. 

Then I went into kindergarten, when all my dreams were crushed. 
Yes, I could read more than those kindergarteners could. I was solving math that left them scratching their heads. But on the day when the teacher asked us all what we wanted to be, I was happily scampering up to the teacher's desk in front of Circle Time and chirped, "I'm gonna be a princess!" 

They laughed. 

The girls who called themselves my friends were beside themselves with laughter. The boys were jeering. I was hurt, but I covered it with a smile, a light laugh, and went back to my seat in the circle, numb. 
That was the start of me showing different sides of me to different people. The start of me hiding my feelings behind laughter, or smiles, or a passive face.

There's me me, the part of me that I hate and love with a passion. There's the creative dreamer, the idealistic side of me. There's the laugher, the athletic, bubbly side. There's the serene empath, always willing to help you out. There's the badass don't-give-no-quacks. 

That day in kindergarten was the day I decided that being a princess would be kicked to the curb. All the other kids wanted to be vets and pilots and writers and firefighters, but I... I hadn't discovered architecture yet. 
So, when it came time again, I said, "I'm gonna be a model."
My kindergartener mind wanted to wear pretty dresses because my family was poorer than poor at the time. We went bankrupt that year. 
As time went by and I became emotionally harder and split my sides apart and named them, being a princess resurfaced. 
I decided to write. My first novel, Rise of the Woodland Dawn, was about a warrior princess named Autumn. She could control nature, and had bird wings so she could fly around. She married a peasant boy named Ivaje Leaf, and when her evil brother Nox took over her kingdom, Fall, she and her husband and their children Emma, Squirrely and Fawn went away, formed the rebel group The Woodland Dawn, and fought back. Eventually, Nox's twin sister Falla came back to power, and Queen Falla and her daughter Princess Tansy brought Autumn and the Leafs back to the palace. 

That was my way of retaliating.
I printed that story out and sold copies for two dollars each. And people loved Autumn. I was in third grade when I finished RotWD, and I started writing the sequel, about Autumn's twins, Squirrely and Fawn. I soon abandoned that and wrote a Cinderalla-esque story about a girl named Pheeni and her sister Kitty, and the mean stepsister Briar. 

Through writing, I brought my dream of being a princess back.
And here I am. Princess Cerys's story is my most popular one. Maia Everest isn't a real princess, but she's her family and friends'. Afrodille is the most similar to Autumn. 

I always wanted to be a princess. I don't wear dresses anymore because they're impractical for my current lifestyle, but I love wearing tutus when I dance. I have a tiara that I made out of hot glue that I put on every now and then. I have a Harry Potter wand to wave around. I still have dogs and dolls to rule over. 
I hope that you can embrace your inner princess too. 

Don't be afraid.

I won't judge you. 

My dream is to go to college and be an architect. I'm going to win a Pritzker Prize. 

But... I can be a princess too. I can wear an imaginary crown and keep my back straight. I'm going to keep fighting for what I love. I can have courage and be kind. 

Because that's what princesses do. They may be political figures in real life, but to us, they're the epitome of everything a woman should be. We're independent: we don't need to follow a script. We can write our own stories, thank you very much. 

I can be a princess. You can be a princess. 

It doesn't mean finding Prince Charming to me. We all know that Prince Charming will find us. It means that we can feel confident in our own skin. That we can be happy with who we are. That we can embrace our flaws. None of the princesses were perfect: Cinderella was basically abused. Ariel was rebellious. Belle was too independent. (Not that it's a bad thing! I'm stubborn as a mule over here. lol) Mulan didn't want to sit still and look pretty. You'll notice that a lot of those things were bad to men because to them, we might just be dolls, sitting in a row. 

But... Imperfection is perfect. Flaws make us who we are. 

Let's just say it. 

We all have crowns.