strange, inarticulate desires

 Cira Flannery Garza

Personal Statement

October 2023

        Strange, Inarticulate Desires

Modernist Writer, Virginia Wolf once said "I have a deeply hidden and inarticulate desire for something beyond the daily life." I resonate with these Ideas, that writers are in touch with the urking to explore the unknown and misunderstood, I understand what Wolf describes as an inarticulate Desire because the Desire is complex in a way that renders it indescribable. In 2020, I began my journalism career at just 13 years old. I first learned the baby steps of conducting research and interpersonal investigations when I joined the Newspaper at my Junior School, which I’d been a member of since 2018. When Lockdown began we started a podcast “The Quarantine Mule'', The mule being our School Mascot. I found pleasure in deciding new topics to discuss, writing about them, and organizing a loose script with my co-hosts and teacher. After 8th grade was over, I made my Podcast, “Sisters by Spirit ''. Originally it was co-hosted by a few close friends, where we led- research-based seminars centered around new concepts we learned. When my friends lost interest in these podcast discussions, I took production into my own hands, renaming it “The Lotus- A podcast for Theoretical Thinkers'' I chose the Lotus flower as a symbol of my research pursuits, centering on Buddhist beliefs that one can rise from murky waters and find pure and enlightening wisdom in the sunshine. My first Solo-episode was “The Science of Dreams'' where I explained the fascinating methods dreams can be used for psychoanalysis and the Chemical process and reaction that creates a dream. Most of the time my writing was fictional, varying from poetry, lyrical pieces, and short stories but I discovered I could be just as creative with how I explained and magnified non-fiction.  Perhaps some have a worth we’ll never know like an obscured price tag buried in their souls only a few have the privilege to unveil. Stanford Psychology professor, Jamil Zaki once said in his Book A War for Kindness; Building empathy in a Fractured World “In his magnum opus, The Nature of Prejudice, Allport reasoned that bigotry often boils down to a lack of acquaintance. Its antidote was just as simple: "Bring people together, and they’ll awaken to their common humanity.” I read this book in the Summer of 2022, my grip on hope struggling that we may be losing universal empathy due to our rapidly progressive age, this book prompted me to take an AP Psychology and Sociology course, which depended on these interests only further, I had a new way of looking at myself, and comprehending the Behaviors and patterns of the people around me. Although My podcast didn't have much attention, I am still very proud of this ongoing project. I look forward to interviewing my friends about thought-provoking subjects, such as Religion, ethics, and Parapsychology. In August of 2023, I became the head of Media in the High School Literary Magazine, a student-led organization where I began managing "Peach Acid- A Literature Podcast" in which the first episode I wrote and hosted was "Shakespeare's Lost Years" featuring another student, whom I interviewed and promoted the latest Magazine theme, accepting submissions. I get giddy each time I identify myself as a "Writer". I'm a linguist, a truth-teller, and a messenger of all forms all of which is mobilized by the Power of Empathy, who knows how I'll lengthen these talents and Interests into professions?