Nicki Bratton

Category: Roots & Remnants

  • Twenty Years Later 🖤

    A Time Capsule Arrives Today I’m celebrating my 32nd birthday, and fate delivered me a little time capsule—my 7th grade “Me Folder.”Inside was a piece about where I saw myself in twenty years which, by cosmic coincidence, happens to be this year. What Didn’t Happen Well… I am not an actress (and never went to…

  • 🎂 Why I’m a Snob About My Birthday (And Honestly, You Would Be Too)

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    Let’s Get This Out of the Way Yes, I expect to feel special on my birthday.No, it doesn’t take much.And yes, I’m fully aware I sound like a birthday snob. But here’s the truth behind the spell: I Shared Everything Growing Up—Including My Damn Birthday I share a birthday with three family members, two high…

  • How the Red Wings Became a Family Tradition (Thanks to my Step-Dad, Tim)

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    It Started with Tim We didn’t set out to become regulars at Red Wings games — that credit goes to Tim. 🏒 He’s the real fan. A lifelong believer who went to games with his grandpa back when the Joe was still home ice and Detroit’s glory days weren’t just memories. Hockey runs in his…

  • ⚓ Sea of Thieves: My Forever Voyage

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    Every Gamer Has a Comfort Game Mine just happens to be one where skeletons try to murder me and strangers chase me across the sea for fun. ☠️🏴‍☠️ Sea of Thieves isn’t just a game. It’s my game.It’s the one I always come back to.It feels like home. Salted and sunburned and chaotic—but home. I…

  • 💌 A Love Letter to Ollie Bug

    (Because some cars are more than just cars) 🚗 Love at First Vroom I have a habit of making big purchases when I get emotionally impulsive—like I’m possessed by a teenage demon with a debit card. So it’s no surprise that when I was approaching my 16th birthday, I decided I needed a car. Not…

  • High School Was a Vibe—and I Was the Weird Alt Girl Living It 🖤🎭

    📦 Packing Up, Starting Over The summer before freshman year, I packed everything I owned into boxes—my journals, my band tees, my lingering insecurities—and moved to Charlotte. My parents had finally separated (a long time coming), and honestly? I was relieved. After being bullied relentlessly through middle school, I was desperate for a fresh start.…

  • Not All Attention Is Flattering: A Spell for the Girls Who’ve Been Followed

    🎬 Freshman Year, New Script? Freshman year. New school.Fresh start… right? I was kind. I always am. ✨But sometimes, kindness gets mistaken for consent. Or worse—invitation. 👤 The Shadow I Didn’t Cast There was a boy.Not a classmate. Not a crush. Just someone I was polite to. And he latched on like a shadow. He…

  • 🖤 School Sucked. Except When It Didn’t.

    A Spell of Survival from a Former Target 🎭 Before the Curtain Fell I was aware of bullying before I was ever bullied.The summer before 5th grade, I even wrote a little play about it. My teacher had this charming marionette theater in her classroom, and I was absolutely enchanted watching older students put on…

  • 🎬 Movie Monday: The Bay Theatre — Suttons Bay, MI

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    🕯️ From Family Legacy to Community Magic Originally owned by the Bahle Family until 2018, The Bay Theatre was a beloved landmark until the owners announced they’d be shutting it down. The town of Suttons Bay wasn’t about to let that happen. They rallied together, transforming The Bay into a nonprofit — and in doing…

  • 🎓 From Spotlight to Studio Light: How College Became My Backstage Pass to Everything Else

    Rejected in Act One Let’s rewind the tape. 🎞️ Western Michigan University said “pass” to my theatre dreams, and that moment hit harder than a dramatic closing monologue in Act II. I was devastated. Curtain call? More like credits rolling on my Plan A. Truthfully, even if I had gotten in, we couldn’t afford it…