I cried for my seven-year-old self who struggled with acceptance of my Black identity, and for my eighteen-year-old self who felt that I had relinquished a precious part of myself without even realizing it existed. I also cried for my present, thirty-year-old self who was feeling the overwhelming weight of these emotions all at once, in front of my colleagues.

We need others to survive and successfully building and sustaining meaningful relationships with others, in a capitalist society, is a beautiful, act of resistance.

Being a student meant to conduct research for the academic year 2020-2021 ultimately felt like an impossible task, and being a Black woman during this time, also felt like an unbearable weight to bear.