“0R1GAM1 L0V3”

I wrote this song in the 9th grade, when life began to feel uncertain and I was facing the adverse struggle of being one of the few Black girls rocking natural hair at school… Every day was a struggle, while I was running varsity track Freshman year, and on track to enter Honors and AP classes in the years to come (I was at the time, in Conceptual Physics Honors, fighting for my life lol and excelling in English), socially life was another story. I was being psychologically bullied, and I learned the hard way that people are trained to respond violently to a darker-skinned Black girl succeeding in any shape or form. I keenly remember people coming up to me and also questioning my national loyalty because of my hair! However, in spite of the bullshit, I refused to back down, and I luckily had allies who weren’t gonna let me go out like that either. Writing, for me, in this case, became a way for me to speak life into myself. A call for self-love, connecting to a higher purpose, and betting on oneself. Oh and I was OBSESSED with orgigami for like 5-6 years at this point lol. I especially loved making 3D hearts and giant cats that I would gift people on a rare occasion with artwork and playlists on it.