i am a disabled, cisgender italian american woman navigating recovery in a wounded pocket of the east coast. adversity has been a defining theme my life, and, as someone who identifies as a woman, my body has often felt like prey, a battleground for many different forces to exert their power. writing and mixed media have become vital outlets for processing and expressing the complex sensations of this existence for me and i find that sharing authentic segments of myself, that i enable people to also be honest with themselves.

throughout my timeline of recovery and academic pursuit, i has come to recognize the importance of confronting the broader social forces that have shaped my lineage and how i have embodied these effects— including the weight of our gender in our society, social class, education, and the expectation of the accumulation of capital. it has become apparent through my work that the meaning to all these things are subjective across all societies, and someone’s idea of home can be individually defined.