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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.”
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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.”
 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.’"
By Aaron Zhang “I would describe myself usually as a person of words,” Mehek Gosalia said. This may seem counterintuitive, considering how she incorporates STEM in art—in our conversation, she made coding analogies to describe her work. However, she explained that she uses technological and artistic mediums to explore non-verbal communication.
By Aaron Zhang Michael Johnson explores different emotions through his vibrant doodle art pieces. In his piece about 2020, “CANCELLED,” he layers drawings of an Amazon package, a BLM hashtag, him graduating, a hornet nearly blending into the background, and one of his signature characters giving a thumbs-up to the viewer. He shows a range of colors and directions depicting the nuances, both happy and sad, of the year.
 Jasmine Kapadia uses poetry to examine and celebrate her heritage. By Jessica Liu “Poetry started as a way for me to be proud of what I am,” Jasmine Kapadia said. The sixteen-year-old poet’s freeform, lowercase poetry—enriched by her hauntingly specific word choice and versatile use of language—exemplifies her pride in all aspects of her identity
 Aislin Alancheril, opera singer. By Aaron Zhang Aislin Alancheril used to worry about attending large parties or dances. As a singer, she didn’t want to accidentally start screaming, which could damage her vocal cords. But now, she’s found a solution: “If people are screaming, I will sing opera,” she laughed.
By Aaron Zhang Chloe Chow (she/they) loves Bob Ross. “Two years ago for Halloween, I dressed up as him,” they said. They were dating someone with curly hair and a beard at the time. Their significant other asked, “‘Shouldn’t I get to be Bob Ross if we’re going to do a collaborative thing?’” Chow said, “and I was like, ‘No, I love Bob. I’ll make the painting.’” This moment exemplifies both their passion for art... and the healing power of Bob Ross.
 An acrylic painting created by Nya Spivey. By Aaron Zhang Nya Spivey can turn anything into art: “Right now, I’m actually painting clouds on my ceiling… it’s a process,” she said. Spivey’s art is often inspired by a dreamy, almost-accidental moment—for example, after she splattered some paint on a pair of jeans, she decided to lean into the mistake and painted the rest of the denim as well.
 By Aaron Zhang “There's a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of making publishing, literature, writing more equitable,” Krystal Yang said. “There are always stories that need to be told, and there is always a different perspective that can be read.”
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