The I Am I Am I Am project is a year-long journey of self-discovery and artistic reflection. Inspired by the profound simplicity of the phrase "I am," this endeavor explores the layers of identity shaped by a lifetime of experiences—creative, personal, and medical. Through revisiting past artwork, excavating buried writing, and reckoning with a complex psychiatric history, the objective is to weave together the fragments of an evolving self.This project is an exploration of presence, resilience, and the unyielding thread of "being" that persists through every challenge and triumph.

I AM. I AM. I AM.***

I AM. I AM. I AM.* I AM. I AM. I AM.*

"I am" is not merely a statement of existence; it’s an invitation to explore what it means to be. This project is not about crafting a neat, cohesive narrative of my life. Instead, it’s about embracing the messiness, the contradictions, and the unresolved questions. It’s about finding the threads of continuity in a life that often felt disjointed. Over the course of this year, I will revisit my art, my writing, and my medical history with curiosity and compassion. I will seek to understand not just the moments of transformation but also the spaces in between—the quiet, unnoticed times when I was simply existing. This is not a quest for answers but a practice of presence, of acknowledging the "I am" that persists through every change, challenge, and triumph.

As I embark on this journey, I’m reminded of the power of storytelling—not just the stories we tell others but the ones we tell ourselves. Who am I when I strip away the roles, the labels, and the expectations? Who am I in my art, my words, and my memories? Who am I in the stillness of simply being? This project is not just a year-long endeavor; it’s a commitment to living fully, honestly, and authentically. It’s a reminder that, no matter where I’ve been or where I’m going, I am.

THOUGHTS AND STORIES

Featured

education, i am. i am. i am.

Fractured

education, i am. i am. i am.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) stands as a haunting testament to the mind’s fragile architecture, a profound disruption where the normal rhythms of memory and time splinter beneath the crushing weight of trauma.

education, i am. i am. i am.

i am. i am. i am.

My Cup Runneth Over

i am. i am. i am.

Mother’s Day is, without question, my most cherished day of the year. It is not the cards or the flowers that move me, but the invitation I’m given to reflect.

i am. i am. i am.

Maizzey On A Mission

i am. i am. i am.

To appreciate the cultural and conceptual roots of Maizzey on a Mission, it is essential to revisit the true origin of Cinco de Mayo.

i am. i am. i am.

Silence. Power. Betrayal.

i am. i am. i am.

Sexual violence does not happen in a vacuum. It thrives in systems—both formal and informal—that permit, overlook, rationalize, and even reward abuse.

i am. i am. i am.

The Thing About Being Broken

i am. i am. i am.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt an odd, almost painful connection to Humpty Dumpty. On the surface, he’s just a nursery rhyme—an egg on a wall who falls and can’t be put back together again. But to me, he was always more than that. He was a metaphor. A mirror.

i am. i am. i am.

The Girl in Me

i am. i am. i am.

I found sanctuaries for my wildness: art contests, writing competitions, music, theater. At home, there was joy. Music echoing from every corner. The scent of celebration folded into the very fabric of the carpet.

i am. i am. i am.

Dream or Reality?

i am. i am. i am.

I recently stumbled upon digital medical files from the ICU hospitalization that this entry refers to, and as I read through them, I was struck by how much of that time still eludes me—fragmented and disorienting. The files offer a window into a deeply complex period of emotional trauma, one that I’ve only been able to piece together in bits and pieces, scattered through a haze of broken memories and confusion. At first, I was frozen in place, overwhelmed by the rawness of what I was reading, unsure of how to process the details that were once just echoes in my mind.

i am. i am. i am.

Truth-Teller

i am. i am. i am.

We talk about sexual violence like it happens in a vacuum, as if it begins and ends with the act itself. But that’s not how it works. Abuse is never just one person’s doing. It’s a structure. A stage built plank by plank from silence, excuses, admiration, and denial.

i am. i am. i am.

What Now?

i am. i am. i am.

I don’t know what I thought middle age would feel like, but I didn’t think it would feel like this. I had vague ideas once, soft-edged and sparkling with something like certainty—that life would settle. I thought the pieces would click together and I’d walk through my days with an air of having arrived. But instead, here I am, standing in the wreckage of expectations I didn’t even realize I was still carrying.

i am. i am. i am.

Walking Medical File

i am. i am. i am.

I feel like I am reading the story of a stranger, someone tragic and distant, but the case number is mine. My name is there in bold, undeniable, tethering me to every grim detail. It is obscene, really, to see my suffering condensed into sterile paragraphs.

i am. i am. i am.

Thankful

i am. i am. i am.

Thankful for the small things, the tiny things, the in-between things—the way the wind sneaks through the cracks in the morning, whispers of coffee steam curling like ghostly lullabies, the scuff of a shoe on pavement, the hush of a friend’s voice saying I hear you. The weight of a book in your hands, the rhythm of a song that rattles your bones just right, headlights stretching long down an empty road.

i am. i am. i am.

Collapsed Stars

i am. i am. i am.

I have loved stars that collapsed into themselves. People who once burned with the kind of brilliance that made you believe in something bigger—something divine. They carried light in their hands, in their words, in the way they saw the world with wild, unfiltered wonder. But like Icarus, like Lucifer, like every fallen thing that ever thought itself untouchable, they flew too high, reached too far, believed themselves invincible.

i am. i am. i am.

Let It Unravel

i am. i am. i am.

The best is not behind you. The best is not in the hands you have already let go of, in the love that has already left, in the dreams that have already withered. The best is ahead, waiting for you to stop gripping the bones of something long dead.

i am. i am. i am.

I’m Still Here

i am. i am. i am.

The world is uncomfortable with what it cannot see. We are taught to rally against cancer, to wage wars on failing organs, but we do not know how to hold space for the quiet, interior battles. We turn away from suffering that does not bleed, does not show itself in scars and statistics. And yet, pain is pain. It does not lessen because it is unseen.

i am. i am. i am.