I Was Asked to Write Freely

Ranease Brown '21
Free write, 
With liberty put thoughts to paper 
Exercise the few rights you have in response to the rights that you don’t 
Sitting here making space for those who don’t understand 
Letting them learn how it feels, but using my words 
How can I use mine when they don’t use theirs?
I can show you better than I can tell you 
But don’t want to scare what’s left of your bliss 
By bliss I mean ignorance 
By ignorance I mean lack of exposure 
And by lack of exposure I mean the privilege. 
The privilege to walk around in a bubble 
To make purchases out of want and not need 
Wearing clothes from Target and not with one 
Ones that make you feel comfortable. 
My comfort is in my home and nowhere else 
My comfort is not even in my car or school 
It’s the people that I know with the windows closed and no trouble 
It’s keeping a smile on my face so you can’t find a reason to degrade 
I can’t be the stereotype if I act the opposite 
I pull out your biases by confusing what you think you know about my people 
You make the assumption while I already did it first. 
First. 
Too many firsts to count. 
We can’t have a second or third until one of us makes the stand 
We can’t celebrate anniversaries when it hasn’t happened in the first place 
We don’t celebrate what we have because who seeks the minimum? 
Who looks for the smallest amount unless out of dire need...
That’s what we are in
Dire need 
It’s whether or not you look down long enough to notice
Free write
Write freely 
Use the liberty you have now to make up for what you don’t
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Editor-in-Chief
Abby Fossati
Prairie Resch

Photography/Art Editors
Jessica Chapman
Joanna Wei


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Alexander Yuen
Amanda Wang

 
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Abigail Kruger
Caroline Asnes
Pearl Miller


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Ella Ip
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