This is the first in a profile and interview series from the perspective of News columnist Iden Crockett that aims to highlight people who work in the arts in the Miami Valley, with a focus on those who create space for women, BIPOC and queer creatives.

“No election will fix this for us. It is no longer an option to put our heads down and wait out the next four years. There will always be some sly carnival barker waiting to exploit people’s ignorance.”

“People are complicated. We laugh, we love, we hope but, we also cry. We bleed, we despair. We scream. All of that is beautiful.”

“Now, I think about warmth because I know cold. Now, I think about quiet because I know noise. That is waking. That is living.”

The tone of debate in our country seems to lean ever further toward pettiness and argument. It is more  important than ever that we continue to lean in the opposite  direction and facilitate open, honest and respectful conversation.

“Friendships, romances, careers, children, writing and creating all take effort, and when you are depressed, that energy isn’t there, and that effort just doesn’t feel worth it.”

“What would it be like to watch yourself die? To be at the bedside, holding your own hand for your final breath?”

“Years of telling myself, every day, that I was a failure. That what I’d given of myself had made no difference. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed those words: ‘Baby, it was enough.'”

Ask yourself, “Where is the fight?” It isn’t at the finish line. It is one step past the last.

“Ignorance must be met with teaching, not preaching. Your right may be different from my right.”