In “They Don’t Love You Like I Love You,” Natalie Diaz uses enjambment and purposeful diction to develop and portray the complex idea that your worth should be determined by yourself and the people around you and not the world that surrounds you. The author uses enjambment allowing the reader to experience the thoughts going through her mind. “...not your kind, someone white, some one some many who live because so many of mine…” They are continuous and never really seem to have a proper conclusion due to the way she feels as though there is always some way should could be or something better that she could be doing to please the people around her. “They don’t love you like I love you, she meant, Natalie, that doesn’t mean you aren’t good,” This phrasing is critical towards the underlying message. On the surface you can see the motherly feel of the words, stating that no one could possibly have the same endearment towards the author that her mother does because it is simply too strong. However, the deeper level to this message involves the people of America and their love and how much the author craves that but the only way they she will receive that love is conforming to what they want to make of her. Which in turn makes her mother’s words mean so much more, it is as though she is saying I love you for everything that you are, I love you for everything you are not. Whereas, the society will only love her for what they want from her. Deepening the message of be strong, be true to yourself and be defined by the people that love you. Towards the end of the poem, the enjambment dissipates, giving the reader the calming feeling that the narrator is now experiencing with her mother. The author also uses a play on words to convey the main idea of this message. “I thought my mother said, Wait, as in, Give them a little more time to know your worth, when, she said, Weight, meaning heft, preparing me for the yoke of myself,” As a reader, we can tell that these words are different, however, the poem says that these words were spoken to her and allow them to affect the meaning. This poetic technique provides the complex idea of the poem in and of itself because it carries the message that people in this world will never truly understand those who are of ethnic descent however, that doesn’t mean that they are insignificant, it just means that you should determine your worth through yourself and the people you choose to surround yourself with. “They Don’t Love You Like I Love You” by Natalie Diaz My mother said this to me long before Beyoncé lifted the lyrics from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and what my mother meant by Don’t stray was that she knew all about it—the way it feels to need someone to love you, someone not your kind, someone white, some one some many who live because so many of mine have not, and further, live on top of those of ours who don’t. I’ll say, say, say, I’ll say, say, say, What is the United States if not a clot of clouds? If not spilled milk? Or blood? If not the place we once were in the millions? America is Maps— Maps are ghosts: white and layered with people and places I see through. My mother has always known best, knew that I’d been begging for them, to lay my face against their white laps, to be held in something more than the loud light of their projectors of themselves they flicker—sepia or blue—all over my body. All this time, I thought my mother said, Wait, as in, Give them a little more time to know your worth, when really, she said, Weight, meaning heft, preparing me for the yoke of myself, the beast of my country’s burdens, which is less worse than my country’s plow. Yes, when my mother said, They don’t love you like I love you, she meant, Natalie, that doesn’t mean you aren’t good.

Autism is a complicated idea for a young child to understand. However, at 9-years-old I encountered it for the first time with my little sister. Over the years I met kids similar to her, and I found myself wanting to be surrounded by them. I had a heart for these children—a deep and personal connection. So, I reached out to them, bonded with them, and became their friend. They were so kind, loving, and endearing. I wanted this for my little sister, so I pulled a Michel Jackson “Man in the Mirror” and started with me. I began this new direction by listening to a boy in 4th Grade who only wanted someone to share his original comic books with, he was able to call me a friend. I spent time tutoring an autistic peer in 6th Grade in math because the teacher refused to help him, and he passed the class. One of my greatest connections started in 9th Grade as I pursued one of the kindest friendships I know. When I invited her to my sweet 16, her mother came to me and personally thanked me for just inviting her daughter. In these experiences, I got to see what others don’t even bother to look for: the creativity of the comic book creator, the intelligence of the ratio ranger, and the kindness of the birthday bestie! This passion for these unique and gifted kids remains in my heart today, and it is what I want to devote my life to. Some might say they want to be a lawyer to stick up for the little guy who doesn’t feel heard. I, on the other hand, want to be a lawyer to stand up for people who don’t feel heard simply because others choose not to understand them. I am attending Dallas Baptist University and I am majoring in Politics, Philosophy and economics. Once I complete my bachelor’s program I would like to enroll in a law school in order to help understand more of this community. This scholarship would allow me to do that in so many ways but specifically in a field that is dominated by men, it will allow me to be a strong yet comforting female voice within a harsh and close minded realm.

I always have and always will have a spiritual connection to music. The bass lines, the drum pattern, the guitar riff, harmonies and lyrics are just a part of a world that expresses something you can’t just speak about. Which makes concerts the most healing and fulfilling places to be. My first concert was at Taylor Swift’s 1989 world tour. Now, don’t discredit the music taste, I was 10. But, I remember sitting next to this set of best friends who knew every word and you could see the pure bliss on their faces, something sparked inside of them that brought them closer together. I don’t fully remember that concert but their joy is permanently tattooed on my heart and in my mind. The most out of this world concert experience lasted about 3 days long. To start off the anecdote, my dad called me on a Tuesday night asking if I had any plans and I told him about the movie I was going to go see with my friends and he spoke rattling words that I will never forget, “Oh, well then I guess you can’t go to see Paul McCartney with me tonight.” My jaw was on the floor of my sister’s 2013 Nissan Maxima. I couldn’t believe it! I told him that I will tell my friends that I had to miss out that night and proceeded to ask him how he got the tickets so late, because we wanted to go but the stadium said that they were sold out, plus the tickets were so expensive anyways. He continued in his giddy manner and told me that they opened that section today and the tickets were on sale. Fast forward to the concert and it was one of the best concerts I have gone to in my life! The crowd was so pure and so alive. Paul was telling stories throughout the entirety of the concert and giving us a glimpse into his full life. After the concert, I almost didn’t care that I had to walk 2 miles back to our car, emphasis on almost. That was just day one. I was of course on a concert high the next day, loving life yet so tired because we got home at around 1am, but that is the telling of a good concert. Then came Thursday when I was able to skip school with my parents to drive down to Austin to go see The Eagles play. I felt like the coolest teenager in the world. Don Henley is one of the best musicians of his time and his lyrics to me are like what sonnets are to poets. The best way to describe it to someone is how in the movie Inside Out, Riley has her core memories. Mine will forever be that week and those concerts. I have gone to concerts between and after these times and I will continue to go because they are not only memories just waiting to be made but life altering moments in time that you seem to be able to recall with a divine ease, our core memories.