Depression She Wrote
Christina Chidi is a Penn State senior majoring in Global and International Studies with a focus on Culture and Identity. Chris, as her friends and family call her, chose this major because she wants to help change the world.
She has always been very involved in standing up for racial equality, women's rights and the LGBTQ community. Most of her views and opinions on these subjects are shared when she performs spoken word at various places on campus.
Chris is a part of the SLAM poetry organization known as WORDS (Writers Organized to Represent Diverse Stories). This is where she is able to express herself the most even amidst her busy schedule with school and work. Chris finds time to write because she feels that it is a necessity for her well-being. She understands that her writing is to help open the eyes of others, but also says that she needs it for her own personal reasons.
For several years, Chris has been dealing with depression and has no clue where or why it arises when it does. She has fought this illness over and over again and contributes most of this ongoing strength to one of her strongest talents, writing.
Her poem, Depression She Wrote, challenges and questions the very existence of the illness. She understands that depression can be a beast at times but also knows that it can be defeated. By writing her struggles down on paper, Chris is able to more easily see and challenge her problems head on. She is optimistic that this illness will not defeat her and while her writing continues to encourage others, it also encourages her to keep pushing, just one word at a time.
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Featured below, we get to hear a short version of Chris' poem titled History. In this "Snarky and Sarcastic"poem, Chris talks about the modern day views of history in society. She feels that many people only pay attention to the history of which they were taught in school. But Chris finds this system partially flawed becuase it does not address the idea that their are so many untold histories of others. In this specific writing, Chris wants her audience to take a chance to step into someone elses shoes.
