This spot on the arpillera was reserved for two students who did not complete their quilt squares. It is both sad and disappointing to not have everyone represented, heard, and seen. One of the pieces that would have been here was going to reflect on mourning, and what we lost in 2020, with a personal emphasis on the impact of the death of Kobe Bryant earlier in 2020. The other missing student art was going to reflect on the growing impact of militia groups in the United States. In many ways, this arpillera is made less rich because of the absence of these students' art. However, it is also a striking metaphor for all those students who have sadly disconnected, disengaged, and disappeared from school life across our nation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In trying to decide how best to meaningfully use this space, we ultimately landed on an excerpt from the inaugural poem of our nation's first youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb.” This poem powerfully and concisely sums up the duality of the darkness and the hopefulness of the United States and of our collective arpillera. Please read Ms. Gorman’s amazing poem in full, by clicking to the next arpillera, below: