“I laughed, I smiled, I cried so happily. It felt like 21 years of my family’s shame had been zapped away by my magical potion of speech,” said Kelsey*, a “Speak Out!” speaker.
The WINGS Foundation, located in Denver, Colorado, hosted donation-based event “Speak Out!” on Saturday April 14 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Hampden Hall where six adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse publicly shared their stories in front of a packed, community audience.
In my personal journey with mind obstacles, yoga was the first thing to help me in a huge way. After practicing at home with DVD’s for awhile, I took my first studio class and immediately after it, decided to become a 500 hour trauma informed teacher. In the process of teaching, I founded The Strange is Beautiful to make alternative healing options accessible.
I remember back in 2014 when I started The Strange is Beautiful, I felt like there wasn’t much mental health news that other publications were covering. Recently, I’ve noticed a spike in coverage of this beat, from the suicide of Anthony Bourdain, to Logic’s suicide awareness song, to the American Psychology Association’s letter to Trump.
On January 28 at the Lodge Room in Highland Park, music reverberated against the walls and the stairs creaked under the pressure of party-goers ready to go to the event upstairs. Gold balloons spelling out “Quince Night” as well as pink and white ones decorated the stairwell. Groups of people crowded the entryway, laughing and talking as they waited for the musical acts to start.
A bright orange typewriter made out of cardboard sits in the middle of the room. Flowers spring from its keys. On the top of the typewriter, is an offering. Pan dulce and the novel Like Water For Chocolate. Surrounding the typewriter, placed on the stark white walls, are portraits of brown faces and bodies. They seem to stare from every corner, enticing you to read a snippet of their lives.