Dear Me

NATALIE BETANCES

Dear me,

I allowed you to wallow in pain but cover it up with a joke.”

I am sorry. I’m sorry that you have been away from home for so long that you started to make homes out of others and labeled yourself a lost girl. I’m sorry that you ran away from your own problems thinking that if you could make others love you, you could maybe learn to love yourself through their reflections because if they could learn to tolerate you and love the very things you hate so much, then maybe, just maybe you could learn too.

That you ever hesitated when someone asks you “what you love about yourself,” but could say what you love about others without a thought. I’m sorry for trying to fix others wounds while letting you bleed, giving them the decorations you adorned your home with leaving you deserted.

Gamma Epsilon SPRING 19 IG: @nmb.xcx Website:https://nataliebetances21.wixsite.com/mysite

I’m sorry for pushing everyone away, but mostly I’m sorry for ignoring your feelings. For being so out of touch with you that I forgot your worth and caused you so much pain. I’m sorry for clutching onto people on ledges when your own hands were shaking. Your hands have held everything, but yourself.

I’m sorry that there were nights when you cried yourself to sleep, when you could’ve been held if you just let your walls down a little. That I allowed you to wallow in pain but cover it up with a joke and a smile on the side. And I am so sorry that I didn’t love you, like you deserve to be loved.

“YOU MADE ME”

CLAUDIA HUMPHREY

Omicron Beta Spring18 IG and Twitter: @Strawberrypunch

“You made me” digital, 2020, I wanted to make something that represented me and nothing represents that more than the womxn in my life.

Michelle Flood

Pi Gamma chapter and North Florida Alumnae Association (NFAA) FALL05 (crossed) and SPRING07 (initiated) Instagram and Twitter= @Flood_Michelle_

Her Black Mental Health in 2020 is a mixed media, materials used include: oil paint, acrylic paint, fabric, ribbon, magazine collage pieces, newspaper collage pieces, collage pieces from books, Sharpie markers; created in 2020.

This artwork provides a snapshot of the current state of mental health for Black women. Shown in the art is some of the thoughts and concerns that some Black women (like myself) have been preoccupied with this year. The artwork both represents a snapshot into my mind as a Black woman, therefore telling my story at this point in time, but is also meant to be applicable to other Black women.

Her Black Mental Health In 2020