If I Weren’t an Activist (Fall 2024)

“Growing up, I loved to paint, to make nothings into somethings. To sit outside and color, and reimagine a world where the sun was beaming down on my skin.
Art made me feel like I could escape reality and be in my own world. I felt at peace. Not how I feel when fighting for basic human rights. That doesn’t feel peaceful. That feels draining, that feels exhausting, that feels tiresome. It feels like I am fighting to be seen. Fighting for the basic necessities of life. The things that feel like they should be a given.”

by Diamond Spratling-McGinley