Sylvia Méndez
My name is Sylvia Mendez and this is my first full year attending Harper College. I love all the arts but especially dancing and writing. I coach the Poms dance team at Maine West High School. I was on the poetry slam team in high school for two years and participated in Louder Than A Bomb poetry competitions both of those years, which is the largest organized youth poetry slam competition in Chicago. I love meeting new people, obsessing over pugs, and writing to inspire.
An in-depth look at their work:
The biggest challenge I had about writing my piece, Persevere, was putting a harsh reality on paper and embracing all my feelings head on. Usually, when I write about a difficult topic in my life, it's to help me get over that certain hurdle. I performed this piece at multiple open mics and poetry slam bouts and it still pulls those feelings back out of me every time so performing it and being an open book to my audience is just as difficult. This piece is for every daughter who just wished her dad would put down the bottle or can but hating him because he won't.