In my time as a member of the 2024 cohort of the Youth Collaboratory I was led to the precipice of something greater than myself. I absorbed knowledge, I felt the weight of my identity fall on my shoulders and I learned to be comfortable with it.
As an exercise in order to share about ourselves as well as the space we call home, I and my other youth collaborators were instructed to follow an outline from the poem, “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon. This was just one of many tools we used in order to dive deeper into ourselves, our culture, and the values that matter to us. For the first time ever I felt like I could ground myself in me, my family and my home.
I Know Where I’m From
I am from old books and weathered pages
dogeared and loved
I am from rubbing dirt on a skinned knee and rickety piers
hot sands and undulating waves
I am from seagrass
kelp wrapping your ankles
I am from coffee mugs and dried out ballpoint pens
papers strewn across a never empty kitchen table
I am from “try, fail, try again, fail better”
warm biscuits and southern fried chicken
I am from unrelenting sun darkening my shoulders
ground under bare feet
belief in the unseen
I find it easier to write than to speak. This was a fact about myself that I did not fully realize until I had spent some time surrounded by some of the greatest young minds in our country.
In my family and in my community, whoever has the loudest voice will be heard. I was nowhere near the loudest, even when I had urgent things to say. Whether my being silenced was due to my age, race, gender, political views, etc, it was easy to feel overpowered. During the orientation zoom meeting where I got to meet the other members of my cohort as well as the people that were behind all of it, I was struck by how compassionate and genuine everyone was. One of the first things we did was a grounding exercise proposed by one of our leaders, and the goal was to release the worries you brought to the table, allowing yourself to be fully present in the moment.
The Meaning of Life Resides in a Zoom Meeting Chat
Feel your feet on the ground
relax your shoulders
unclench your jaw
type on word that resonates
choose just one
worry that it needs to be “deeper”
consider something you haven’t before
Tell me where you’re from
What do you love about it?
Tell me where you’re going
What will you love?
Do you know yet?
It didn’t sink in immediately. Even after the first zoom meeting I didn’t really believe that I could create change, let alone the fact that innately I already had. I used my power when I wrote and sent in my application. I used my power when I listened, when I shared, and when I connected with new people. I struggled immensely with the word: enough.
I didn’t really believe that I could create change, let alone the fact that innately I already had.
Am I doing Enough?
I don’t know what exactly quantifies
enough
i think it must be how far it extends
upwards, sideways, left, right
forwards
there must be some quantitative measure
how many people have been affected
how many lives have been changed
But the amount of power can’t be expressed
not when it lives within us
not when it moves quietly
not when it exists as courage
As a part of the Youth Collab experience our cohort got the opportunity to travel to Seattle, Washington. We did workshops, listened to our mentors speak and got the opportunity to collaborate and help each other start thinking of the concept of a “Power Project.” On the plane ride back across the country to my hometown, I brainstormed about what my Power Project would look like. With the help of my cohort, I got so many ideas about intertwining appreciation of black history, culture, and my love of writing. Before I collaborated with the other members it felt like what I wanted to achieve was impossible. I felt like it was something I could never do. I was never the type of person to start anything new. Having been asked about my values on the trip I reflected. My values were near to my heart, so why wouldn’t I want to share them? I felt confident and that was a new feeling.
The definition of power in Eric Liu’s book, “You’re More Powerful Than You Think,” really stuck with me. He says, “power is the capacity to ensure that others do as you would want them to do.” It is easy to get caught up in how much there is to do. There are many things that I wish could be changed about my community, my city, my country. It was so interesting to listen to all the ideas the other cohort members had. Our diverse backgrounds made it so each of us had a different perspective to offer, especially in challenging discussions. Everyone was eager to get to know each other on a deeper level, appreciate each other’s differences and utilize their similarities. Our interests ranged from food deserts to climate change, but we shared a common theme: wanting something to be better.
The relationships I formed with my cohort members and the ones I observed all contained this intangible feeling of belonging.
It was so incredible to see small talk turn into boisterous laughter and feel the bonds between all of us grow as time went on.
The Art of Togetherness
Friendship has changed in many ways since you were 5 years old
now there is no surge to recess
to play outside in the sandbox
beat your record in seconds taken to race to the swingset
There is no immediate connection over snacktime
Now there is a conglomeration of unrest
of will they or won’t they
shared worry about the future
mutual understanding of difficulty
Shouldered pressures and the absconding nature of childhood
All of my fellow cohort members had such beautiful and insightful things to share, and I found myself wishing I could write down everything they said. I wanted to capture the essence of their stories, their pasts and their determination. Then I realized that I could. I could take the voices of my peers and memorialize them. That’s when my Power Project blossomed.
I wanted to capture the essence of their stories, their pasts and their determination. Then I realized that I could.
I decided to create a student-led paper where students in my county could showcase their creativity, voice their opinions on recent events and delve deeper into the world of art and media. I got my friends together from school as well as my sister to share ideas, and open a dialogue about opinions of students and what art means to them. Despite my high school having no curriculum beyond English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Spanish, we have a community of creatives. There are photographers, writers, painters, crafters and my Power Project will give them a place to shine. When you open up creative outlets for others, you not only have power, “the ability to ensure others do as you want them to do,” but you also have the ability to ensure others combat the feeling of being overpowered.
My initial understanding of a Power Project was that I needed to make a big change or a big impact in order for it to matter, but something else came of my endeavor. I realized that letting the light of my peers glow was equally as important. Power exists in words, the stories we share; the ones we relate to and especially the ones we don’t. I, the writer, was equally as important.
Power exists in words, the stories we share; the ones we relate to and especially the ones we don’t.
Create
Draw
paint
read
write
let the world know
where you’re from
Ciera Roseboro is from Wilmington, North Carolina and is a member of the 2024 Youth Collaboratory. She one day hopes to pursue a career in Zoology and her dream is to become a reptile keeper at the Australia Zoo.
