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How might we recreate public health as art, letters, stories, & poetry?
@Copyright 2023 LIGHT Journal All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the editor, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Opinions expressed are the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. LIGHT Journal is published annually. To submit entries and learn more about LIGHT, visit www.light4ph.org.
ISSN 2837-0015 (Print) ISSN 2837-0023 (Digital)
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l e a d e r s i g n i t i n g g e n e r at i o n a l h e a l i n g & t r a n s f o r m at i o n
MASTHEAD
editors Juliet Iwelunmor Idia Thurston
creative Creative Direction
Alexis Engelhart
Layout & Design
Bianca Kipp
Illustration
Morenike Olusanya
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contributors Melba Torres
Monty Joynes
Mae Levante
Isabella Nichols
Erinn Caley
Margaret Human
Alexis Christ
Jodie Vinson
Nithya Gnanarajah
Isabel Chesney-Jordan
Sherry Comstock
Valentina Wu
Anthony Reyna
Michael Riordan
Lotanna Ezepue
Ujunwa Onyeama
Nancy Jorgensen
Vihaan Vishnubhotla
Nia Johnson
Wendy Mages
Martin Lee &
Remi Recchia
Miri Charney
Richard Lee
Iris Cross
Elena Tauros
Monica Foltz
Kara Zivin
Donna Vitucci
Christell Victoria Roach
Mark Chartier
Shiela Scott
aYo Binitie
Michaela Perkel
Haydan Brown
Outspoken Bean
Ava Beahn
Kevin Liu
Ryan J. Petteway
Rose Heflin
Siddhartha Subbella
Andrea Olatunji
partners Texas A&M University Wake Forest School of Medicine Radiant Health Magazine 4 Youth By Youth Renike Artistry Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice 3545 Lafayette Ave, St. Louis, MO 63104 @light4publichealth 4
@light4ph
@light4ph
@light4ph
illustration by Andrea Calisi
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a note from the editor
Simply naming something “light” does not describe or imply it, not when light means to shine, reflect, kindle, illuminate, or brighten things dark or those that dazzle. We are learning that naming is only one stage of the process. Transformation and sustainment are other more preferable stages. The prolific author, bell hooks, would describe this as the courage “to engage in resistance that will transform our current reality.” It is in this act, the power to transform reality, that we present our inaugural LIGHT issue. We are leaders igniting generational healing and transformation. We are committed to the power creativity,
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in all its forms, can have on our health and well-being. We are prepared to look back, to look forward, too, so as to see the public fully. This is an act of survival, an attempt to let the public speak, however they choose, in ways that make sense to them. Only the public can give us a clue how we can begin to see, to name, to transform, and to sustain what matters most for their health. When we started during the pandemic, we believed that if a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds came together to bring the public back into public health, then we can transform the reality within our field. Together, we clarified the public health we wanted. Together, we discussed gaps. Together, we proposed solutions. Together, we intensified engagement. Together, we united at a festival to foster connections that would enable us to live out our name. The end result is our inaugural magazine focused on how we might reimagine public health as art,
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EDITOR'S NOTE
letters, stories, poetry, and whatever else the public felt was necessary to surprise us with. A solidarity between ourselves and the public was forged and continues as an ongoing dialogue with the public, one that has transformed us, one we plan to sustain for as long as our field needs leaders igniting generational healing and transformation. To be LIGHT is to work in solidarity with the public to resist all forms of racism (pg. 24–25 Letter to Congress, pg. 118–119 Infrastructure), to heal differences (pg. 19 Two Sides, pg. 76–77 In the Shadows, We Are All the Heroes), to define and sustain common concerns and interests that we share about the public’s health (pg. 54–59 A Journey to Living), to achieve full public participation in public health (pg. 28–29 DARE to Live a
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Same), to teach community (pg. 14–15 Laboratory Staff—Unseen Medical
Long, Healthy Life NOW! Diet, Appreciate, Rest & Relax, Exercise., pg. 22–23 Take Heart), to do all this with courageous perseverance for many who want more from public health (pg. 32–33 Dear Public Health). LIGHT is our way of being free (pg. 106–107 Learning to Dance), our attempt at fostering a pedagogy of hope (pg. 108–111 A Pledge to My Pedagogy), our social justice in action (pg.104–105 Dad Cuts), our attempt at restoring hope within the field (pg. 50–53 What Florence Nightingale Could Tell Us About Long Covid), our place of struggle, but also our fierce attempt at loving the public we serve (pg. 18 Through the Rose Colored Glass), all while bringing in anyone, ordinary people, who have been waiting for so long a time to soar; keep soaring.
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illustration by Andrea Calisi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
contents
surprise us
14 Laboratory Staff—Unseen Medical Heroes
74 There’s No Place Like Home
16 Waste Mismanagement
76 In the Shadows We Are All the Same
17 The Feeling of Overthinking
78 Straw to My Essence
18 Through the Rose Colored Glass
80 Your Pandemic
19 Two Sides
82 Decades Later
letters
summer camp
22 Take Heart
86 Envisioning Youth Health I
24 Letter to Congress
87 Envisioning Youth Health II
26 Dear Passed-Out Man
88 An Elegy to My Fire
28 DARE to Live a Long, Healthy Life NOW!
90 An Ode to My Mind
32 Dear Public Health
92 Dear Pre-Covid Me 94 I Remember
poetry
96 Ode to the Future
36 Fingerprint
98 My Aunt
38 Twenty Twenty-Two at Eighteen
100 Moon Musings
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art
40 My Fireflies in a Jar 42 Hitting the Nail on the Head
light festival
44 Screaming
104 Dad Cuts 106 Learning to Dance
stories
108 A Pledge to My Pedagogy
48 Safe Here
114 From Chaos to LIGHT
50 What Florence Nightingale Could Tell Us
116 I Am the Found Treasure
54 A Journey to Living
118 Infrastructure
60 Like One Fish Chasing the Other
120 What Do I Bring?
66 The Harm in Healing
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BELL HOOKS
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HOOKS, B. (2014). TEACHING TO TRANSGRESS . ROUTLEDGE, P 34
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Section 1
14 Laboratory Staff—Unseen Medical Heroes 16 Waste Mismanagement 17 The Feeling of Overthinking 18 Through the Rose Colored Glass 19 Two Sides
SECTION
LIGHT MAGAZINE
illustration by Jeremy Green
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