This Is My Design
Keywords:
first-generation college, higher education, religion, disability, perseverance
Abstract
In this free form poem, Nadia Lee, a wheelchair user and a first-generation student at East Los Angeles College, illustrates how she navigates through tribulations in her life using biblical imagery and metaphorical tales. Lee begins this ongoing saga by alluding to a frail two-headed lamb, a rare phenomenon of genetic deformity, as an allegory to herself and her disability. As this journey ensues, Lee learns to overcome bastions of insecurities and mercenaries of betrayal with the aid of friends and family. Lee concludes this chapter in her adventure by rediscovering herself and finding solace in the uncertainties of life.
