"Hi, my name is Miranda Soucie. I marched with the Bandettes for four years. This year I am marching with the Blue Stars. "However, over the years with Bandettes, I formed a special bond with many of the ladies, two of whom are in this picture with me (from left to right, Michelle Denny, Jamie Marshall and I). "I started marching in drum corps at age 13. My parents died a year and a half earlier and I had to move to Sault Ste. Marie, home of the Bandettes. I had never played an instrument and was having a lot of trouble adjusting to the new school. I wasn't making friends. "A friend of the family suggested that I would be perfect for the guard at Bandettes. I was small and cute. I went to a rehearsal, subsequently hit myself in the head with the flag, left the gym and joined the bass line. "That was the beginning of a rebuilding process that I credit to the Bandettes. I would not be the confident, outgoing person I am today without them. Although I am not marching there this year, I still hold them as a part of my family. "The two girls in the picture with me are actually cousins, and Bandettes is very much a family affair. I would like to thank all of the girls I have marched with over the four years there for making my life so much better, and for wedging a place in my heart." Thanks Miranda!
E-mail your Forzato submissions -- and we will get to them all, in time (and we're posting them in the order they were received) -- to
dave@dci.org along with where and when the photo was taken. Send some biographical information about yourself as well. We'll give you full credit. Also, let us know if you want your e-mail address included, to get feedback from other drum corps fans.
