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Abstract

Mathilda Sanon is a Psychology major with an English minor from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Mathilda explains that this essay was deeply personal to her because it is tied to her family, her culture, and her own experiences of language. She thought often of her grandmother, who has lived in the United States for decades but has never let go of Haitian Kreyol. “Watching her speak her language so freely while I have spent years adjusting mine to fit into certain spaces really stuck with me,” Mathilda reflects. She says that she did not want to write about language loss as some abstract concept. Instead, she wanted to capture what it feels like to live between two ways of speaking and, in some ways, two versions of herself. “This was a chance to be honest,” Mathilda shares, “and to reflect on the pressure to sound a certain way just to be taken seriously.” She also notes that writing this paper gave her a clear sense of how much she has grown as a writer since last semester. “I felt more comfortable taking my time and connecting personal experiences with the themes we were studying,” she explains. For Mathilda, writing this essay also allowed her to explore how much she has felt the need to soften or adjust her voice in different spaces, while also reminding her that her voice matters and that holding on to where she comes from is just as important as anything she is working toward now. Outside of the classroom, Mathilda loves to read and has been a book lover for as long as she can remember. Reading also sparked her love of writing, which she now uses as a way to tell stories, reflect on her experiences, and express ideas that are sometimes hard to say out loud.

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