The face behind the pierrot mask

My name is Maria. I live in Tampa Florida. I was one of the luckiest to be picked to be interviewed by Jared.

At the concert in Orlando, on April 28th, I told him that 30 Seconds to Mars changed my life.

And that is true!

I depend on the band every day for some sort of smile, or happiness. I feel like part of a family that no one else understands but the members itself.

I could tell you my life story. I could tell you the events, the feelings, the anxiety, depression- all of that. But that isn't important. What is though, is that I have been taught to follow my own dreams and leave all of that behind. To launch forth.

The music: There is no way in hell that I could find any band similar to 30 Seconds to Mars. They are unique in every way- especially the sound. Every song has it's own meaning, it's own connections to your personal history, and they all just flow the right way. Every album has it's own purpose, and they are beautiful. This is War is probably most important to me, to teach me to fight against the hardships of life.

The band: Tomo. Tomo, you are a sincere person that I just love to follow on twitter. You always have something good to say, and you're awesome with your fans. It must be an honor to be your friend. Someday I'll get to meet you for more than a couple seconds and it'll be such a cool experience.

Shannon. The way you treasure your family, and your brother, is amazing. I admire that about you, and I also admire how much life you bring to every song, recorded, or live. You will always be one (or the one) of the greatest drummers I've ever seen.

Jared. Oh, Jared. I'm actually writing a letter to you now, to give to you at the concert on October 15th. I really hope and pray you read it, because I've never written such a heartfelt letter to someone I don't know so personally before. I wrote,

"You are the one that put in perspective that living up to your dreams is a necessity in life. You woke up the dreamer side of me. Thank you Jared, for being my hero, and living up to the title. "

The Family: The Echelon is somewhere that I can finally fit in. I've met so many new people, had experiences, and everything. We are a group of people who have turned to music for comfort, who have gotten lost, and jumped into a sweaty crowd (by the way, Jared, thanks for telling everyone to push and squeeze in. I was in the center front of the crowd, and keep in mind that I am only just a small person) to just forget about everything for a night.

I can't even begin to express the amount of gratefulness I have for all of 30 Seconds to Mars. Without it, my life would be colorless.

Love, Maria.

What Mars means to me.

Hi there my fellow Echelon, I'm Keri from Massachusetts.

Everyone has good and bad days, it is a fact of life. On my bad days music is my escape. I know that I can just turn up the radio and dance and sing and that everything for that moment will be ok. Music talks to people; it is universal language like a math equation. From their first album I knew 30 Seconds to Mars was a great band. I knew that because they made music that spoke to me. Like Pink Floyd, The Beatles, U2, NIN, and Nirvana, they have been added to a lists of bands that, playing a song can bring me back to a moment in my life that makes me smile or cry or just remember. When I saw them at the Boston House of Blues in April it was a spiritual experience. I have been to a lot of concerts but none with the life and tenacity of this band. They interacted with the audience on a level I have never seen before and it comes from the fact that they really do love their fans. The fans are a whole other subject. During the show we all became one and looked out for each other. I am proud to be part of the Echelon; even though I am older then most of the fans I am glad to be a Mars Mother. I laugh at the fact the my 3 yr old son Damien thinks everyone with a Mohawk is a "Rock Star" and even sported a blue Marshawk himself for a while. He has started to play drums too. I love that I can share their music with my son like my father shared his music with me.

So 30 Seconds to Mars means just that; loving music I can share with the people I love.

In Defense of our Dreams

Dear 30 Seconds to Mars,

I think I should introduce myself first. Hi, my name is Jen.

I'm a 20 year old college student, my program being Tourism and Travel - Flight Service; I hope to be a flight attendant one day. I'm absolutely enamoured by life, and I savour every moment, cherish every breath, and live every second to the fullest. I live without regret, and I wake up every day with a smile, Kings and Queens blasting as my 6AM alarm clock. I look outside to see that I beat the sunrise again, and all I can say to the world is 'Carpe Diem, bitches' with a grin. There isn't any other place I want to be except here or any other life I want to live except mine.

And I have you three to thank.

So, thank you.

I would never expect to be like this 5 months ago. I didn't necessarily hate myself or was suicidal, but I was scared to live, scared to breathe, scared to even think of going somewhere in life. I didn't feel allowed to express myself, to be myself or to even accept myself. To put things simply, I had a life, but I wasn't inspired to live, and just ‘living’ didn’t feel like an accomplishment anymore. Existing wasn’t enough.

Ten or so months ago, I got it in my head to just do something with my life; So I applied to college, but mostly out of fear that 'living pointlessly' would give my mother a reason to hate me more. I made my decision on logical choices, such as what would bring me away from my mother fast enough and effectively enough. So I told her I wanted to be a flight attendant. When she heard that, she just scoffed; She asked me questions about it sarcastically, and would refer to the program as another embarrassment (it’s a college program and not a university program; there’s a difference in Canada), despite her friends being thoroughly impressed with me. I just think it wasn’t what she wanted of me.

I got a lot of encouragement from the rest of my family but really, behind closed doors, it was like walking into a minefield with a blindfold on; I was pretty scared. Was it the right thing to do? Would I disappoint myself this time, instead of disappointing my just mother? I had only begun to actually to accept myself as a person and not just a thing, a tool, to live out someone else’s dream. With my own teenage dreams of being a screenwriter, ones I had put all my love and energy into, thoroughly crushed, I didn’t know if I could put the same fragile confidence and hope into this new, relatively unknown dream I had.

During the winter holidays, as the date of first day of class drew near, my smiles got brighter and my nervous shaking could more easily be mistaken as jitters of excitement. I was afraid to fail again but in retrospect, I was more afraid of what would happen, anything that would happen. But one night, I was browsing through a friend's tumblr page and found her spazzing about This is War and the 'Kings & Queens' video; She had a youtube link up, I believe. Curious me, I clicked it and watched.

It was the most well-spent 5 minutes and 48 seconds of my life.

There's a line in the song, 'In Defense of our Dreams', that really spoke to me. For a time, dreams were all I had, and even those were taken away from me. Dreams are precious, and I learned the hard way that they are something to be protected, cherished, and pursued. Everything I already learned and knew, you confirmed and told me "Yes, that's true. We stand with you, and behind you."

Every day that I wake up and watch the sunrise from the window of a plane, I'll have no one else to thank, but you. You can see the sunrise, but unless you love life like how you've taught me, I would never have felt the sunrise.

Forever grateful,
Jen.

Toronto, Canada

Decadent.pastry@gmail.com // @decadent_pastry