Photo by: Steve Cohn © 2019
Hi! My name is Christina Similien, and I am a senior at the University of Southern California. I‘m graduating this May with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Reading and writing are what sustain me, so to have spent the past four years submerged in stories and surrounded by professors who are masters at storytelling is the privilege of my lifetime.
When I was six years old, I moved to the United States from Haiti, a small, impoverished, yet beautiful island in the Caribbean. I didn’t speak a word of English and learning it was a difficult and an embarrassing process. At some point, I became ashamed of my own voice; of my inability to sound like I belonged. So, I hid in books, and I made friends with the characters inside them. Instead of voicing my thoughts out loud, I wrote in journals and turned all the good and bad things that happened to me into stories I could read over and over again. Even after I became unafraid of what I sounded like; of what others thought of me, I kept reading and writing stories that allowed me a space to find myself (and I am still finding myself — perhaps always will be).
I’ll read anything as long as it’s good, but my favorite thing to write about is sports. The world of sports has some of the best, most inspiring and heartwarming stories, and the characters come from everywhere and are often bigger than life. I love weaving what I know about storytelling into the sports articles I write, because I believe anything told as a story instantly becomes more impactful — more lasting.
I am honored to be a part of Jimmy Gauntt’s story; a story that will go on forever. Folks always talk about how life is short but, actually, life is, for the most part, of course, very long, and stories like Jimmy’s — stories about kindness, friendship and an unrelenting determination to live beautifully and without regret is what will sustain us through the long and painful moments.
I’m thankful for Jimmy like I’m thankful for all the other stories in my life that have cemented a place in my heart and kept me alive.
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