On Belonging
As I look up at my bookshelf, I notice some of the new additions from the past six-or-so months. ‘Mixed/Other’ by Natalie Morris, 'Maybe I Don't Belong Here' by David Harewood and ‘Living While Black’ by Guilaine Kinouani – overlapping themes of identity and belonging, difference and acceptance. Since the pandemic, I have found a new passion for reading; books have been my serenity, a mode of self-care, allowing me to completely clear my head except for the words on the page and the image they create in my mind. But more than that, in books I have found a sense of belonging; page by page they have allowed me to explore different parts of my identity, understand my heritage and the experiences of those before me, widen my perspectives to empathise with the behaviours of others and subsequently, process my own experiences and emotions - I think of the James Baldwin quote, “ You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you re...