To a New Dawn: Letters of Solidarity Anthology

YERENNY CA, 25 NYC & Nottingham September 09, 2020 Dear Lukas, You have been my security blanket ever since I moved to England from New York City in 2018. You showed me how to take transportation around Nottingham and explained why everyone seems to make a line for everything (which is so unlike Americans). I became complacent; stopped showing you just how much I appreciated you. After all, I was making new friends at school now, and while we had our movie nights whenever time would allow, I was the one that usually ended up having to apologize. “Sorry, last minute shift at the care home,” or “Sorry, but I ended up signing up for X event which will have X important person, and you know that I need to network for my career! Rain check?” These became normal words to leave my lips when dealing with you.

I am a New Yorker; we learn early on that if we aren’t busy then we are being lazy, and that’s just not acceptable. Our worth is only as high as our to-do list. When I wasn’t in lectures, I was running to do 14-hour shifts in order to pay for my tuition and rent. Food was a luxury; water becoming my best friend. I can still recall when lockdown came to England. At the time, I had started feeling unwell 98