Issuu

ISSUE 2

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 a n d t r a n s f o r m at i o n

How might we view healing in mental health and reimagine wellness through art, letters, stories, & poetry?

@Copyright 2024 LIGHT Magazine 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 Magazine 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 a n d 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

contributors Adeoluwa Ariyo

Murzban Shroff

Jeanine DeHoney

Martin Lee

John Laue

Emily Lankau

Britnie Walston

Rhoda Moise

Hunter Liguore

Sodïq Oyèkànmí

Evamaria Lugo

Jennifer Oriaku

Payton Crampton

Marisa Gedgaudas

Inessa Lindsey

Claire Beeli

Lotanna Ezepue

Oluwakorede Adedeji

Janey Ma

Charis Shing

Shiela Scott

Ed Meek

Madeline Elieiri

Kaori Flores Yonekura

Queen Amarachi

Chinemelum Arinze

Sargam Vyas

Shawn Goodman

Aiden Oliver

Tricia Knoll

Yvonne Gleason

Colin Oliver

Jaime Townzen

Adesuwa Osazuwa

Matt Gold Meri Sawatzky Nicole Carey Gordon Halloran

ISSUE 2

Weston Graham

partners Northeastern University Wake Forest School of Medicine Radiant Health Magazine Renike Artistry Washingotn University in St. Louis School of Medicine 4523 Clayton Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63110

@light4publichealth 4

@light4ph

illustration by Chloe Chlumecky

a note from the editor

How are you? How are we? We hope this message finds you well, all of us well. These questions about our collective agency regarding our illness and wellness are central not only to you as an individual but also to the health and healing of our communities. LIGHT Magazine Issue 2 focuses on all the ways we can use creativity to connect, to name what we often silence, those necessary and those full of audacity, all for the purpose of healing. If art, letters, stories, poetry, and anything else that personifies creativity are revelations, then nowhere is this more profound than with the state of our

ISSUE 2

mental health, our mental wellness. This issue delves into the myriad of experiences in search of meaning and truth-telling about what it means to not be well with our mental health at times and what it also means to be well. What began as a question, led to an opening, with stories of life, poems, letters, and art bending not towards the narrow but towards all that makes communal healing possible. We are never more alive, never more open, too, than in the art, letters, stories, and poetry that turn all the heavy sails of life for purposeful action with healing. We expect your state of mind concerning mental health and wellness, our state of mind as well, to unfold continuously in a purposeful action—one that works best for you, your communities, and for us as we all find refuge in the art, letters, stories, and poetry shared in this issue.

EDITOR'S NOTE

To us, this issue helps to illuminate our voices, our experiences, the good and the bad; all of them allow us to access creativity while navigating physical illness, mental health crises, or wellness for our communal healing. This ultimately is the essence of LIGHT. One where we hope that every piece in this issue, from John Laue’s poetry “Soulful Afterthoughts on Damnation” (pg. 24) where the impossible with health becomes probable, to the simple question by Rhoda Moise that began this editorial “How are you?” (pg. 35), to Jeanie DeHoney’s story “Tired of the Same Ole Song” (pg. with mental health issues, illustrates the power (and necessity) of a communal healing space.

LIGHT MAGAZINE

56) in search of a song with a perfect imperfect melody for those

The good news is that your healing, our healing, doesn’t have to be alone. That’s where LIGHT Issue 2 comes in, a place where everyone in the public can connect to share their creativity, their hurdles, and their hope with healing. Turn the pages and you will find a shared space for the public by the public, with their mental health and wellness, as they saw fit, such that they are centered as active participants in the larger project of public health, communal healing with inspiring art, letters, stories, and poetry that ultimately inspire balance and free up pathways to a healthier you, healthier community, healthier us. Welcome!

Profound Greetings My Dearest Mindset submission by Shiela Scott

LETTERS

Profound Greetings My Dearest Mindset, I am reaching out to you, exercising the freedoms to create a peaceful solution to our problem. In these times of negativity, I would like to exercise intuitive boundaries. While most believe that is being alone and without people in the surrounding area, I am wanting you to embrace the purpose of connectivity. Think of your most cherished moment, whether it be with mother, father, child; the Father, Son, Holy Ghost; or me, myself, and I. Find the trinity of mind, body, and soul. Amid these times of silent expression, separation, and loneliness, I urge you to paint your emotions on an empty canvas. Fill it with the heartbreak or loss that you’ve experienced. I promise you; one devastating moment can turn a memory into a lesson for another generation that needs not endure such devastation.

LIGHT MAGAZINE

If it isn’t in you to splatter paint across a canvas, that is okay. Some people don’t connect to the colors of the sunrise or sunset but rather the fact that it has risen and left. Write about it. Describe how the sun's heat bursts into your eyes every time you witness love that you thought would never return to your heart. Express how the breath of air freshens your lungs and fills the pores of your skin. Let distant strangers, who are rediscovering themselves too, also rediscover you. Write letters to friends, ex-besties, confidants, and classmates. Let them know that even during these challenging times, life still waits for us while living to embrace our fullest potential and purpose. Writer’s block is something we all experience, so find a neighborhood where no one is silent. Go to a bar, club, or even a music station and listen to the music. After all, it’s the only thing that allows us to use 100% of our brains. Use this inspiration to write, dance, sing, paint, draw, sketch, and create a new life that the pandemic couldn’t provide with its rules and regulations.

artwork by Rebecca Maclean

I am not saying don’t be safe, ignore being clean, forget about washing your hands–everyone has dirt on them. No, I am not saying that. I am suggesting you enjoy the beach and each wave, the sand and every castle built, the shifting of the land, and the silence that remains still. Go skating, biking, gardening, and relax; always remember that once you’ve exercised your body, you have also exercised your mind. Don’t forget to exercise your artistry and create, much like the gods and goddesses did centuries ago, and continue using them as a tool for the purpose of longevity today. Sincerely, An Artistic Point of View

PROFOUND GREETINGS MY DEAREST MINDSET

A Letter to My Diary submission by Oluwakorede Adedeji

Dear Diary,

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It’s been a while since I last wrote to you. Don’t blame me; you never wrote back either. Anyways, I am writing to tell you about many things that have happened over the past few months. Take a seat. This is going to take a while. Remember 2020, the year of the pandemic, the year that held us hostage with nothing but hopes of reuniting with friends in open spaces and large gatherings? Well, it didn’t occur to me that I had never fully recovered from it. I guess it left a form of innate post-traumatic stress disorder. After getting back into school with friends and completing the semester, school break was here, and I was back at home–the same home I had spent a year locked up in. COVID-19 had a way of keeping us all at home against our will, but unknown to me, it kept something else in me as well. I was very excited to be back at home with my family, to see the priceless smile on my momma’s face. Then, the anxiety slowly crept in, and the darkness in my mind overstayed its welcome as the weeks passed by. I began to have sleepless nights and wished for the 8-week break to be over as soon as possible. Somewhere in my mind I believed that this anxiety and constant sadness emerged from a mind that was too scarred by the mental trauma from the pandemic. I questioned–should I face my fears and continue to stay home, or should I run straight back to school? I decided to go with the third option of speaking to someone about it. All I had to do was open up to a friend. I finally mustered up enough courage to tell my close friend about it, and although it did not provide quick relief, my mind was better at peace to enjoy the rest of the holiday.

LETTERS

LIGHT MAGAZINE

artwork by Jana Renee

A LETTER TO MY DIARY

LETTERS

To My Present Self in 2023 submission by Oluwakorede Adedeji

To my present self in 2023, It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 whole years since the pandemic. It feels so much like yesterday, doesn’t it? I was so much in fear of the virus that I pinch myself to reassure myself that I made it through. I know you also do. I am writing to you from a far-distant future, one where we live among the stars and moons, different from Earth and its troubles, yet the same in how we think and feel about ourselves. It’s easy to imagine that less gravity should free us from our unhealthy situations and worries, just as it lifts us from the earth, but that is wildly untrue. We carry within us, wherever we go, our state of wellness and our capacity to attain better states of health.

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You know, the vaccine may protect your body, but not your mind. You don’t need a diagnosis to confirm that you’ve been infected, not by the virus, but by the despair which still ravages your mind even after years since the pandemic. I am sorry I am unable to send some technology that automatically keeps you at your utmost levels of wellness. Well, we haven’t figured out how to develop that yet. Instead, I write to you so that you may understand you already have what you need. Wellness isn’t externally transferred from a source; it’s internally generated. Before you find an error in that statement, yes, our environment plays a major role in our wellness, but yes, we can always change it. You owe it to yourself to be well, in every meaning of the word: spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. For a long time until now, we have often relegated our wellness as a goal for the holidays in only 1 out of 12 months; our birthday is not even on the list, and that’s not fair.

P.S. Doughnuts aren’t allowed in space; eat them while you can now. Sincerely Yours, Me

TO MY PRESENT SELF IN 2023

artwork by Dionte Walker

To my present self, whether here on planet Earth or here amidst the stars and moons, you can be well if you choose to be, and I mean every day. Take some rest when you have to, take a break when you have to, and take some time when you have to. All I’m saying is that it’s all about YOU.