My name is Benita Blue and I’m a Y Lab student. I’m passionate about art and music and I want to pursue a career in graphic design and I hope someday to work on magazines about art and music. This year has been one of the worst and best years I’ve experienced. I’ve grown as a person, but because of challenges I never thought I’d face, I remember moments of dread laying alone in my room just unable to picture a future where things are okay again. I’ve struggled through college applications and hundreds of video meetings that made me miss the closeness and warmth of human companionship without the fear of sickness. I’ve also witnessed the true strength of community in my in-person immersions. Through the effort put into developing those experiences and keeping each other safe, I felt supported and will forever value that time. For me, one of the constants in my life has always been music. I’ve played piano, guitar, and other instruments for almost my whole life and have always connected with it as a cathartic outlet. This year, especially, I’ve relied on music for support through things that I felt I couldn't quite articulate. Through the pain of an unhealthy relationship to the uncertainty of a loneliness that I couldn't shake, I felt seen through someone else’s poetry. Of course, in the happier times, I found myself listening to music a lot too, but it just seems to hit deeper when I’m experiencing hardship- lyrics feel deeper and the emotion feels more raw. Because of my connection to music, I decided to create a mixtape as my artifact. I’ve been making mixtapes a lot this year and it’s something I really enjoy so I decided to create a mix of songs that I feel have helped me the most this year. With the limited amount of time you have on a physical tape, it becomes a challenge to choose which songs I want on it. My vision for this mixtape is simply to make something tangible about my experience in 2020, like a time capsule. I plan on putting photos or drawings on the tape cover to also add to that idea of a time capsule.Here are some of the songs I added: The Queen of Hearts- Ezra Furman Where the Skies are Blue- The Lumineers Landside- Fleetwood Mac Here Comes the Sun Again- M. Ward Psych Ward- Okay Kaya Each of these songs are important because they are attached to memories that I really love and not specifically about the lyrics. I often find myself listening to these songs and remembering times with people or times where I felt at peace. Other songs I added because they simply just make me happy, which I think is just as important as some deep meaning or poetic interpretation because sometimes you just need to hear something that feels good.
