Before my dad had cancer, I always viewed it as something horrible. Something that took parent and kids away from each other, that put strain on family finances and decimated once healthy bodies. And most unfortunately, I viewed it as something that happened to other people. So when my parents came into my room in 2020 to tell me that my dad had cancer, I just told them that that wasn’t a funny joke and went back to my asynchronous schoolwork. But it wasn’t a joke. My dad had colon cancer, and the next few years would be spent dealing with the way the sickness revealed and obscured so many things about my family. Most people see stories on the news of people diagnosed with cancer that keep a happy disposition, or gain a new spiritual outlook on life. That was not my father. He’d never been the most optimistic person, and I’d even go as far as to say he’s pretty difficult. But the sickness amplified that by a thousand. The tension that had been lying beneath our family for years bubbled to the surface, and my while my father made promises to change his behavior, I knew that they were promises made in the haze of fear that surrounded his diagnoses. I was so, so angry all the time. My mom walked around with a look of perpetual fear on her face, her shoulders always tense. And we were all so, very tired. To relieve the mess of emotions within me, I spent time in my room with my dads projector. I spent my free hours the way many people did during that time; binging movies and TV shows on streaming. And as I payed more attention to each new show or film, I realized how complex the creation of the media we watched really was. I began to pay more attention to the behind the scenes work of each production, and earned a new appreciation for the medium. And as the months went on I realized something else; one thing my family could always depend on to bring us together, no matter what tensions arose, was settling in the living room to watch a new movie. Watching something with my family as an escape from the pressures of school, the sickness, and what was going on in the world became my escape. I didn’t feel a mess of emotions and anger when I sat down next to my dad and we watched a new science fiction movie together. I felt peaceful next to him for that time. And as my passion for the field grew, I realized that I could apply my long time love of reading and writing to the field as a director and screenwriter. Movies and TV got my entire family through what was a rough time. And as I entered college, I knew that choosing Film as my major was the right path. The cancer was terrible, it revealed an ugliness within my family that, for as painful as it was, needed to be revealed. And sitting together in front of a new show or movie was the bandage for that wound. It forced us together at a time where we felt so far apart from each other. And for that I’ll be forever grateful.

"That Thing". The repeated phrase found in the chorus of one of her most famous songs, singer and songwriter Lauryn Hill's rich and husky voice belts out the two words with such power that you find yourself unconsciously singing along with her, considering and pondering the power and consequences of that Thing. Lauryn and her powerful voice were a staple not only in my own household, but in Black households around the US in the early 2000s. Her music contained a truthfulness and soulfulness that spoke to many people, spoke to their struggles of being Black in America, their joys, loves, and losses; not to mention it's mesmerizing rhythm and pro-Black agenda. In some of my earliest memories her voice can be heard in the background, a consistant and soothing, yet radicalizing backdrop to my childhood. But as I grew older, my taste in music began to evolve, and by the time I finished middle school my Spotify playlists were devoid of anything that wasn't on the Billboard Top 100. Moving from the south side of Chicago to the suburbs in 2011 brought out a desperate need for conformity with my peers whom I felt so distanced from. But after entering the chaos of high school and being thrown into the deep end of young adulthood, as a Black girl at a predominately white high school I realized I needed something of substance to hold onto, a life preserver. With the world plunged into a pandemic in 2020, and stuck inside with nothing better to do, I dusted off old vinyls and rediscovered Lauryn's music. Her album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" made me feel awake for the first time in a long time; her musings on love, life, and community sparked a passion and creativity in me. That summer I threw myself into new hobbies, the most intriguing of which became watching movies and screenwriting. I found that in screenwriting I had the ability to create an impactful story that had the potential to be told to audiences around the world. That summer spent socially distant from friends and family was probably one of the most important and eye opening experiences I've had with the arts in my life. I learned that not only was I good at writing, I had a passion for it. I stayed up until I saw the sunrise writing and editing the many different stories that spilled from my fingertips, and watching hundreds of interviews with directors, actors, and writers that helped me to understand the process of making a movie. And in the background, the soundtrack to it all was that Thing, the Miseducation album, it's soulful melodies and harmonies inspiring me to later choose Film as a major and screenwriting as my future career.