the power of words.

On my train ride back in March from Virginia back to school in New York I sat down eagerly delving into the April issue of Vogue. As I flipped through the ads I came across their "Up Front" section and began to skim through the first paragraph to see if it was worth me reading the whole way through. Little did I know that this article would do much more for me than kill time on a 4 hour train ride, it was going to stay with me for a long time (one month and counting) and give me a reality check on where I want to go in life.

The piece was entitled, "Keeping the Faith" and was written by 32-year-old journalist Marisa Mazria Katz. Here was a woman who was truly making a difference in people's lives via journalism. It was about Katz's journey to the slums of Casablanca, Morocco and as one woman, Boubker Mazoz, took her around and showed Katz first hand all of the political injustice, rough living conditions and all around poor quality of life plaguing the city, Katz knew that she needed to do something to help the women there. She then created Idmaj which is an association to give power to women, give them a voice. She also conducted a month long journalism course in which she helped women of all ages write personal accounts of what they were experiencing in Casablanca, what they wanted, what they hated or were frustrated with. For the first time in their lives these women felt they had some sort of control and it was Katz who helped them to get there and eventually led to the creation of Words for Change. As I have said time and time again, I'm a graduating senior and don't really know what direction to take my life after May 21st. But this article was a bit of an epiphany for me; it brought me back to my original passion. Writing. Journalism. That's what I love to do. Talk to people, find out things from them, hear someone else's story, impact people with my words. That's what I want to do. How will I get there? I don't really know but I truly aspire to do as Katz has done and be able to travel, write, and help even just one person find their voice.