In September 2023, I was sitting in my car with a friend in the passenger seat. It was nearing the end of Summer break and we were entering our Sophomore year of college. We were sitting in a park in our hometown. We listen to the sounds of wildlife and bask in the end of the Summer sun. My friend interrupts our silence and asks if she can queue a song. I nod along and turn up the volume. "Who is this?" I inquire curiously. "Oh, her name is Chappell Roan!" I had never heard of this artist. But for our remaining last week of Summer, my friend had queued her every chance she had. She had fallen in love with her, and so had I. Not soon after that, Chappell Roan had become a household name and preformed at festivals like Coachella. Our affinity for her was not singular. Her charisma, theatricality, vocal performance, and queer identity has spoken to people. However, I personally found a different part of her personality gripping. Chappell was born in a small town from Missouri. Her queer identity wasn't always accepted there. But, she frequently speaks out against the notion that gay people don't exist in the South, small towns, or majority conservative spaces. It's incredibly harmful to presume their lack of existence in these spaces. Gay people exist everywhere and shouldn't be pushed out due to the right-leaning people around them. It's not okay to "accept" that some spaces are not safe for queer people and it's not okay to allow spaces likes these to exist and be compliant in their preservation. Queer people in major cities should not be the only queer people protected. I appreciate Chappell for speaking out in this way and validating the existence of queer people in small towns, the South, or other "underrepresented" spaces.

“Is she still doing her little theater thing?” the mom asked my own. My mom always replied the same as she exclaimed, “oh, yes! She loves it”. The other mother would reply, “That’s adorable”. Ever since I was little, my passion and commitment to the arts has been questioned, belittled, and misunderstood by adults who think i’m silly to ever consider a life path on the stage. It’s not “safe” or “a smart financial choice”. The sad part is, they’re not wrong. But, that’s never deterred me from the path. It’s never been a question that I’d persue a career in the arts. It’s where I see myself and I’ve always felt confident that my hard work and perseverance will get me to where I want to be. I love the arts in spite of the risks, not because of the security. My first directed was a women named Tama Rowen who initially allowed me into her show because she recognized me from her choir group. She let me in even though the show was “technically full”. I don’t know if I’d have the same history with theater if it weren’t for her. Her show was the first dip into the theater pool for me and I was quite unsure of what I’d think of it because I’d yet to do any community theater in the second grade. My friend who had experience there encouraged me because she knew although I did a lot of sports, I also have always loved to dance and sing. Needless to say, Tama Rowen’s production of “Peter Pan” catapulted me into a consistent life of theater from then on. I would do my school plays, the community children’s theater, and anything I could get my hands on. From second grade to all the way through my senior year of high school, my evenings after school were filled with rehearsals, dance practices, run through, tech, and more. My love for theater only expanded as I got older and got to experiment with the different aspects of the art. My senior year I had the opportunity to direct a show while also being my theater troupe president. I had heavily immersed myself in the art ever since. Now, I audition for campus plays at my college and send in virtual auditions to commercials. I hope to find a place for myself in the arts. A place I can call home. A place that I could also welcome home my family and friends. I hope to find a stable, secure, place in the world of the arts at some point. I hope to touch the hearts of others and continue to explore myself and the world around me. Finally, I hope to be happy and successful in my journey into the world of theater and hope to be steady enough to care for my parents and let them retire on day. Although, I don’t let the worries of insecurity and financial instability steer me away from my dream, I do hope that I’ll be well enough off one day to allow my parents to rest after they’ve worked all their lives for me.

I folded up the paper neatly and handed it to my parents before rushing out of the room to wait for a response. Soon after, my mom called my name for me to come back and handed me the little piece of paper and circled “yes”. When I was little, I would only ever ask my parents for things in the form of a “circle yes or no” letter. This was because I had a hard time verbalizing myself and communicating with people verbally. Writing gave me a way to voice my wants, needs, concerns, and more! I would not know what to do if it weren’t for writing. To this day, I journal every night about my days because I have a hard time verbally communicating them to others. Writing is an outlet for me and it always has been! Without it, I could’ve never cultivated or found my voice. Writing also inspires me. I read the most beautiful poems that speak to my soul and I absorb them off the paper in a way I’d find difficult if it were to be communicated to me verbally. The ink of the page finds a way to lift off and float around the sky. Certain lines of poems or quotes from books stay stained in my mind. The ink from the page still burned into my brain. For people like me, writing is vital in our way of communicating and dealing with emotions. It’s a powerful tool to provide perspective, introspection, closure, and inspiration! In a time where therapists are few and far between, the ink on the page is what I know I can always come back to. The pages will always listen to me, never interrupt me, and will see me through transparently. They are me. They are us! Writing is the only thing keeping us alive and will be all that’s left of us when we’re gone. It’s our history and our history is everything. History determines the past, present, and future. It continues to determine our fate. Without writing, our history would be unwritten and we’d be bound to repeat it in an endless loop. Writing is all around us. It is so much more than people think it is! It’s in everything we do. It’s in math, science, history, art, theater, and almost every subject we’d ever been made to study in school. Writing is in us! And within us, is great writing.