I am a first-year student at the University of Chicago from Parkland, Fl. I’m very interested in working for The Creative Process because of its focus on highlighting the invisible heroes who strive to impact society. How the organization has continually served as a microphone towards compelling international voices is monumental towards igniting social change, a cause to which I hope to take part of.
I am a recipient of UChicago’s Empower Scholarship and have been awarded summer internship funding to support a professional experience. As part of UChicago’s Empower Initiative to increase college access, relieve student debt, and provide meaningful career opportunities for students from all backgrounds, every student who receives the Empower Scholarship for students who identify as first-generation college students has the opportunity to secure a funded, substantive internship during the summer after their first year in the College. These internships give students the skills and experience they need to successfully find a fulfilling career in their field of interest. To prepare Empower Scholars for their internships, UChicago provides comprehensive training, including intensive career advising and professional development programming.
The common artistic mediums that I use are writing, photography, and film. Currently I have two social media pages focused on sharing both my camera work and poems. Both social media pages are catered towards displaying stories and profound moments from people of color. The projects that I have self-initiated are circulated around elevating the voices of marginalized groups, mostly black and brown voices. I have found that art is extremely communicative towards the complex experiences that come with both race and class struggle. During my senior year of high school, I was able to share my written works on different platforms. I preformed in various spoken word concerts and had the opportunity to have two of my works published. Additionally, I currently work on the Social Media and Production Committee at my university's African Caribbean Student Association. Although my career in the arts was sparked just recently, I hope to continue to use creative measures as a way to bring about change and opportunity to marginalized communities. In the future, I hope to own a production company that focuses on cultivating the works of youth of color. The talent industries of today have continually taken advantage of black and brown voices. My hope is to create a company that helps youth of color develop themselves as artists while giving back to the communities they represent. In this way, a selfish profiting of one's stories and culture is not produced.
The projects which The Creative Process engages in is work that I love to devote time to during much of my collegiate experience.
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Bill 314
by Bianca Simons
Men have looked to our bodies as buffet tables
An unlimited spread for their taking
A women’s freedom has been painted with an “all you can take” label
Gnawed at by men greedy for our allegiance
In front of our eyes
They have stolen chunks of our emancipation
Once scraped for by the nails of white, black, and brown
They have become empowered to grab us by the pussy
Justified by the powers of toxic masculinity
As women
We must close the doors on the open spread
They have made on our private sanctuaries
For they have chowed upon our libertites with knife and fork
Our bodies are not their roadmap to conquer
Their paper to grade
Their rulebook to dictate
They are defined by femininity
Ran by our own holy doctrine
With scripture based on individual moral and ideals
Our maternity and womanhood are too precious
To be handled by their misogyny
Too pure
To be poisoned by their entitlement
Too great
To be downsized by their small perceptions of what we should be
For we are the ones who gave them life
So why should they have the right to run ours?
