 "Hip-hop is such a beautiful outlet for expression," says rapper Aurelio Valdez-Barajas. (Photo credit by Kaysha on Unsplash.) By Anya Shukla Aurelio Valdez-Barajas values meaningful artistry. The Seattle-born rapper incorporates his passion for social justice with his music career: Valdez-Barajas’ verses are steeped in Mexican and Mexican American history. Even as he expands his skillset to include directing and education, Valdez-Barajas continues to use his artistic talents to make an impact.
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 According to Amazon, “The Wedding Date” has been enthusiastically endorsed by Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harpers Bazaar, Bookriot, and nine other publications that I am too lazy to write out. (Photo credit: Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash.) By Anya Shukla As a romance connoisseur, I first started reading this much-hyped book several months ago… and got as far as the first 10 pages. But I knew I had to finish the novel for this list. If “The Wedding Date” was good, I could use my review to paint a hero’s-journey-style redemption arc; if it was bad, I’d employ my signature snark.
By Aaron Zhang As a biracial person, Chase Sterling (ze/hir) wants to use hir art to talk about hir identity. But noting hir privilege due to hir light skin, “I’m not sure if I should tell these stories,” ze said. “I think that’s the biggest barrier—my mind.”
 Fun fact: Priyanka Chopra Jonas was so attractive as a teenager that when she traveled to her tutoring sessions by rickshaw, a line of boys would follow behind her on bikes. (Photo credit: Atharva Tulsi on Unsplash.) By Anya Shukla Review: After her success as the leading lady in ABC’s “Quantico,” a string of superhit Bollywood movies, and her highly-publicized wedding, Priyanka Chopra Jonas has become a household name in both India and America. In “Unfinished,” her 2021 memoir, the former Miss World attempts to provide an insider’s look at her life.
 I'm going to be reading a lot of books this year. (Photo Credit: Robert Anasch on Unsplash.) By Anya Shukla When I applied for a gap year, I told my college that I would spend time “reading and thinking deeply about a list of 50 of the best books of all time.” So far, I have spent as much time “thinking deeply” as I have outside my house (I leave my room so infrequently that it takes several minutes for my eyes to adjust to the sun when I do). Yes, I have read more books by September (238, to be exact) than some people would read in a lifetime. But I wouldn’t exactly call books with shirtless men on the covers and titles like “Beautiful Bombshell” high-class literature. I need to get of this semi-tragic state of affairs. Not the least because I am literally running out of moderate-to-well-written romance novels to read.
By Aaron Zhang “Whenever I owned a color pencil set, there were always ten different shades of colors for white people, but there would only be two browns or one black,” Sameera Parveen recalled. She has faced other racial inequities in daily life—racist comments on YouTube and art videos depicting only white people—but this color pencil observation hurt her the most. “I had to find my own way to mix all the purples, blues, and greens to make the brown or black.”
By Anya Shukla The Colorization Collective and Seattle Arts and Culture for Anti-racism (SACA) have been collaborating since March to plan a panel on the intersection of accessibility and race. We are so proud of the final event, which we hosted in June. Luckily, even if you didn't have a chance to see the live panel, you can now watch the full video below. A huge thanks to SACA's Alina Santillan, Colorization Collective team member and panelist Izze Peña, and panelists Hannah Wilson and Julian Robinson for this wonderful event.
 Actor, producer, director, and so much more, Sara Porkalob. Photo credit: Justin Huertas. By Anya Shukla Over the past few years, Sara Porkalob’s name has become synonymous with the Seattle theater scene. Porkalob, it seems, has done it all. She co-founded and wrote intersectional arts criticism for an online publication, DeConstruct; acted and sang in "DRAGON CYCLE," her critically-acclaimed trilogy of solo shows; used art to address issues of racial equity through the City of Seattle; and will soon be performing on Broadway in the 2021 revival of “1776.” Yet despite its varied mediums, Porkalob’s work always intersects with her personal mission of activism: empowering, uplifting, and sharing resources and power with BIPOC communities.
For two seniors dealing with college apps, quarantine, and the turbulence of 2020-21, this year hasn’t been easy. So as we come upon The Colorization Collective’s second anniversary (!!), we just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported our work. We are so grateful for all that you have done—and all that you continue to do—to support teen artists of color. We couldn’t have made it here without you. Without further ado, here is a look at what we’ve accomplished since our founding on June 27, 2019.
 Paris Buren, Hermona Hadush, and Kalid Alobaidi, co-founders of POC3. By Aaron Zhang In class, “there’s this pressure to not say anything that could upset white people,” Kalid Alobaidi, co-founder of POC3, said. “If I started going off on a rant about something, I feel as though they might twist it and think, ‘Kalid’s being irrational.’"
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