Music can transport us back to a time and place faster than any other art form. That's the premise behind Billings, Montana native Robert K. Elder's newest project, "The Mixtape of My Life" -- a journal that helps people write their autobiography through their music collection. To celebrate the new book, Elder and his illustrator Rob Marvin are holding a book release party on Thursday, July 26th 2018 from 6-8pm at The Pub Station in downtown Billings. Both Robs partnered with us here at Waste Division to give local writers an opportunity to produce essays about how music has impacted their lives, and a chance for these essays to be published and read live at the event. We were grateful to have read so many stories about the power of music and memories. Thank you to everyone that submitted to our contest! Our top three winners will be reading their essays live at the book release event. Below you will find a list of our winners and links to their essays.

Congratulations to our winners:

Grand Prize- Rebecca Starr, The Girl in The Country Song

Runner up- Kaitlyn Nicholas, Transpose

Runner up- Svein Newman, Why I Left Metal (or, White Supremacists Ruin Everything)

Honorable Mention- Chris Tsekouras, Fashionable Chaos

Honorable Mention- Adriane Hanson, Williamsburg

Honorable Mention- Lissa LaRoche, Crimson & Clover

Honorable Mention- Emily Tschetter, That Night We Danced