Half Israeli and half American, Gabrielle Galchen will never quite fit in except for when she writes, when she belongs solely to herself and feels the most complete. As a senior in high school, writing is her objective way to make sense of the world and find herself. She is so honored to participate in a program in which she can pursue her passion; Girls Write Now has truly made her high school experience.
History is not just the past, but also the present and the future. However, it is our decisions as a collective that majorly decide how history runs its course. This poem, titled “Forgotten Ignorance,” describes how climate change should be affecting everyone equally, yet people of color are getting more hard-hit because of the racism and socioeconomic inequality in our society. As such, advocating for a clean climate is inherently linked to advocating for racial equality.
This poem focuses on the philosophy of interpreting life objectively; there is a certain calm in accepting reality as is, and taking pleasure in the mere fact of our existence.
In the context of mortality, the pandemic and the imminent impacts of climate change, it is beyond important to remember how objectively lucky we are to be alive. There is a certain priceless appreciation in simply existing and breathing comfortably within ourselves.
To take our place in history, we must also take a place within ourselves by being conscious of how we feel. Mental health is one of the least discussed yet most prevalent parts of our past, present and future, as our mentality about ourselves and about the world, defines us.
It is currently 2020—57 years after Sylvia Plath’s death in 1963—and yet she is still one of the most widely discussed writers today. Plath is now stereotyped as the quintessence for the depressed teenage girl because she wrote poems about heartbreak and depression and died by suicide after hearing that her husband was unfaithful. But in reality, Plath was, and is, one of the few writers who was able to transform her dark emotions into beauty. And as one of the forefront writers of her conservative generation, she was also most definitely a feminist.
