RISE
SPEAK
CHANGE
by DALEELAH SALEH
About HE;RE'S TO TEENAGE MEMORIES
Your teenage years are some of the most important years of your life. Everything feels so raw, so important. Everything you go through helps create who you are, and who you become. I want to capture this moment in time, so I can look back on it, and remember it.
This inspired me to create a website, where I uploaded different collections of poetry; each collection representing a different experience or journey I’ve been through. I also uploaded a music video, featuring a song I wrote. As my website reads: “life is made up of small moments like this”.
Process
In order to truly capture what my adolescent years have been like, I went through all the poems I’ve written over the past four years, and chose the ones I liked best. I created categories based on common themes I noticed throughout my poems, then found photos (some mine, some not) that best represented each category.
In addition to my poetry, I wanted to include a song that I wrote. I went through old footage, and using iMovie I made a small video which is also up on the website.
The time you felt the most powerful
Daleelah and Livia felt the most empowered when they attended the refugee ban protest together in Battery Park. They joined thousands of other New Yorkers in standing up for the rights of refugees and Muslims, and standing against xenophobia and racism.
The march felt especially personal to Daleelah, who is Muslim, and Livia, who loves Daleelah. A particularly powerful moment was when Daleelah realized it was her voice that was leading the chants of those around her.
Using our voices to stand up for what we believe in was a very profound shared experience, which we won’t soon forget.