Dear Cira,

I wanted to dedicate the last post of the semester to you, Cira, because of all your work in talking about mental health. The first speech assignment in class, where you spoke about the famous Edward Much painting and connected it to mental health stuck with me. I really appreciated that you constantly made references to and discussed mental health throughout the semester, on your blog as well. I learned so many new things from your Ted Talk, about the history of mental health stigma and how things have unfolded the way they have. Mental health is an issue I have always cared about a lot, especially now, when we all need to be mindful and considerate of others more than ever.

I often notice that mental health is spoken about fleetingly online, where someone makes a slight, tokenistic reference to it, but then doesn’t speak on it much further. That is why it makes me hopeful when I see my peers seem so invested and dedicated to such a prevalent issue. Thank you Cira, and everyone who advocates for mental health awareness. We need more people like you!

Best wishes, and have a relaxing holidays 🙂

Sincerely,

Ananya