StoryLines@Naz

  We visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on the fourth day of our Civil Rights Heritage Retreat. The bridge itself is named after a Confederate general and state-level leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. Situated on the west side of Selma, the bridge leads to the state capital of Montgomery. This location was the site of three protest marches held in 1965, first organized after police shot and killed Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young voting rights activist. The first march across the bridge on March 6 was led by Hosea Williams from SCLC, John Lewis from SNCC and approximately 600 other local activists. It was dubbed ‘bloody Sunday’ after Alabama Governor George Wallace approved the police to prevent the demonstration by any means necessary. That night, the event was televised across the nation to some 50 million viewers, gaining the Civil Rights Movement national attention. Two days later, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr attempted to lead the protesters across the bridge,...

I am not a stranger to change. Some changes are small, and some changes catapult us into an entirely new trajectory. That is the kind of change I found myself making in 2020. Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic, I spent a decade working as an actor and singer. It was a career that I loved and one that defined me. When the pandemic hit and the world paused, I was forced to reevaluate my life and career. As much as I loved performing, something was missing. I knew I wanted to make a change. I was craving a career with a greater sense of purpose; one that allowed me to be of service to others. I found that in occupational therapy. Occupational therapy enables individuals with illness, injury, or disability to engage more fully in their lives and participate in their daily activities. Occupational therapists often create adaptations that help clients live life in a way that is meaningful to them and that brings a sense of autonomy back to their lives. What attracts me to occupational therapy i...