In Search of My Future Self

Abstract

This senior capstone is a creative longform essay in which I track both my maternal and artistic lineage through literature. Reading has been an integral part in my understanding myself and the world I live in. Much of my life, books have been handed down to me by my mother, as means of allowing me to better understand and articulate the world in which I live and my place within it. I discuss and cite the work of the Black women writer's whose work has allowed for me to do so. In particular, Ntozake Shange, who's choreopoem/theater piece "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" had a place in our personal literary canon generationally. It began with my grandmother reading and performing it in the 70s, then passing the love for it on to my mother, who then passed it on to me by way of recitation of a poem in the book. When I had felt I lost my way artistically, I revisited the work, allowing me to crystallize the kind of writing I want to do. My senior capstone is a map to that reality and a way of looking to my future as I leave college.