Title
The Hill
Description
“The Hill” is a first-hand account of a young black woman’s mental journey through the first six months of coronavirus pandemic. This work discusses the dichotomy that she discovered that lies in the way in which she and others who share her racial identity have been asked for generations to pay a social duty with their lives as the currency versus the way in which social distancing measures have been met with disobedience at the federal, state, and local levels.
Content Warning
CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF RACISM.
Reflection
By receiving this grant, I was able to purchase tools to record audio and equipment to practice on while not having access to certain percussion instruments during the pandemic. I was also able to purchase literature that affirmed my existence and affirmed my feelings that are so often denied. Aside from financial support, receiving this grant was the catalyst for me to complete this much-needed form of therapy. Being an individual who lives with anxiety, thoughts tend to echo in my mind without a sense of relief. The process of physicalizing these experiences and thoughts through literature and sound has caused me to choose a different route other than suppression, by being a form of validation. What I have learned through creating through the coronavirus pandemic, is that there are people who would like to hear me and hear me purely. Before now, I believed that I was the antithesis of desire in every shape and form. By taking a chance and filling out a proposal for this grant, my experience was validated. I believe other CAL students would benefit from such financial support in the future because our population consists of people from all financial backgrounds where the value of a dollar holds different connotations.