As someone who loves brackets and hates sports, March Xness is one of the best things to happen to me—especially since I got to write a piece for the competition this year.

I spent three months obsessing—I mean, researching—Aerosmith, Run DMC, and “Walk This Way” before I really sat down to work on it. (For those who don’t know me, I’ve been a diehard Aerosmith fan since I was 13, so I had a lot of information to comb through.) I compiled my notes, which totaled more than 3,000 words in their final form. Then I whittled it down to 1,969 words of… well, you can read it right here and judge for yourself:

The Song That Almost Didn’t Happen: Allison Renner on “Walk This Way”

If you’re reading this on March 3rd, please vote for my piece in the poll at the top of the linked page, and also on Twitter HERE.

UPDATE 3/4/22: Thanks to everyone who voted! I won and moved on to round 2, where I’ll face off against Johnny Cash’s cover of “Rusty Cage”!

For fun, I took photos of most of my Aerosmith memorabilia and started sharing one a day on Twitter. I started the day I turned in my final essay—January 23rd—and am still going strong, hoping to finish out March unless a loss breaks my heart and I just can’t anymore. I know, it’s basically like sitting through slides of someone’s vacation, minus the breathtaking views. But if you’re an Aerosmith fan or someone who’s interested in weird collections, it might be right up your alley. You can check them out by scrolling through all of my gibberish on Twitter: @AllisonRWrites (or just checking out the media tab).

Aerosmith wants you to ROCK THE VOTE.

Remember, you have “The freedom to choose what you choose to choose,” which is hopefully choosing to vote for my essay because that would make my day.