Returning to the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum after being there for the first time during the summer was truly a can of emotions that I did not know could open again. During my first visit I experienced a load of sadness. Just because when you first enter the museum (past the ticket area), you get hit with trauma. Then the museum curator takes you straight into the middle passage. For me it may have been a little too much, but I knew I had to see it anyway. Unfortunately due to the slight trauma I could not go into the ship the second time around. 

Stress and trauma are significant threats to both physical and mental health when they occur repeatedly. Even while the conversation on mental health is evolving, it's still frequently regarded as a taboo topic in the Black community. Therefore when I saw the wax figures of the varying atrocities black people experienced, I could not help but think how this trauma could have mentally impacted the descendents. 

I tried to channel all this into my project. Since I am doing Billie Holiday, it was relatively easy to tie trauma into my piece. She too was aware of the injustices black people were facing. With black people consistently being lynched during her time, I thought back to the varying figures who faced the same act or something similar. Pure disgust clouded my writing at times. It is really difficult to imagine what would possess a person to commit such heinous crimes. However, I know given this class is tied to public health it needs to be included. Especially since lynchings are still occuring to black people. If we do not speak on topics, and call them out for what they are - blatant racism, they will forever occur. They could potentially worsen. These overwhelming details are the varying thoughts I experienced visiting the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. 

I was originally stuck on the rhythmic aspect of my Billie Holiday song. Ms. Holiday was very special in the way she sang. She employs a technique used by great singers to change vowels, opening out the sound of the word "smile" to a "ah." These kinds of vowel changes facilitate singing and provide a warmer tone. Though it is much more polite and restrained, she tinkers with rhythm and consonants. It is difficult to know how she felt at this time without speaking to her, yet vocals have a haunting way of reflecting reality and revealing our thoughts and emotions. 

Due to her very distinctive way of singing, I found it very difficult to try to 1) Sing like her and especially 2) Make a song that she could sing. A lot of her lyrics were short but her extended vowel usage caused her songs to be that of a normal three minute song. Therefore, after attempting several different twists and changes I ultimately decided to change it to a poem. 

I have not shared poetry in a while so it is exciting to share it with an audience once more. Especially Billie Holiday, she is loved by Baltimorean, and is a key figure in the music industry. It is very heartwarming I get to show her in her varying lights.

The masked characters known as Makishi are a feature of the Vaka Chiyama Cha Mukwamayi villages' coming-of-age rites in the northwest of Zambia.1  The expression describes the masks and attire that make up a character being played. The souls of deceased ancestors are thought to show themselves in the form of the masks when they cross over into our realm. The Mukanda, an annual initiation school for boys between the ages of eight and seventeen, is linked to the Makishi Masquerade. 1 The Mukanda includes instruction on the initiates' future position in society, tests of courage, and circumcision of the initiates. 

In the article, Masks and Dances, Mwanapwebo and Maliya: A Representation of Woman at the Center of Social Change in Zambia rapid urbanization is one such shift that creates issues with young people's sexual conduct and, as a result, is increasing the risk of teenage pregnancies, STDs, and HIV infections. Remarkably in these conditions, Maliya and Mwanapwebo have developed as sex instructors. 1 They are often utilized in public events, such as political, economic, health, and social forums, and are highly well-liked in metropolitan regions. They are far more accessible for entertainment and for educating about societal ills because of their nature as human and participatory characters in the mask rituals.1

1.Phiri V. Masks and dances, mwanapwebo and maliya: A representation of woman at the center of social change in zambia. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 2008;33(2):449-456. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/521061. doi: 10.1086/521061.