interview

The speaker was born in 1990 with a mental illness and struggled with it throughout their life. They were in and out of programs and constantly got into trouble. They had a creative side and found solace in writing, whether it was poetry, stories, or music. They used to write letters to their mother when they couldn't express their feelings verbally. Reflecting on their past, they realized that their mother's absence and lack of after-school activities led them to the streets. As an adult, they still found comfort in writing and music, and it became their passion. I was born in 1990 with a mental illness, still wasn't really a thing coming up, I struggled with it, I was in and out of programs, in and out of trouble, I was kicked out of every after school program just because there was nothing for me to do there, I was bored, I've always kind of been a creative person, so writing has always been something that was big for me, whether it was poetry, creative stories, writing music, I've always done it, it's been the way I've expressed myself, I used to get mad at my mother and write her letters and slip on their door, because I just couldn't verbalize certain things, and I think as an adult, still getting in and out of trouble, you had that time to sit back and think, where did this start? It was kind of like, my mother, she worked a lot, so after school I'm getting kicked out of all these after school programs, I had nothing to do after school, that's how I found the streets, now I'm an adult, who's still in the streets? So, for me, I know writing as a child and then getting into music as a young adult, it made me feel better, I could get my emotions up, so when I had that time to sit, that was something that I grew a love for, I had a passion for, I had to make it happen.