ESSA is a superhuman persona that was created out of a deep want and need to reclaim all the parts of myself that I've lost to systemic oppression. As well as my truth to power, she is also a call to action… a call for systems change that starts with the self. As my alter-ego, she reminds me that the system that I am fighting to transform out there is the systems that I am also reinforcing within me. The faults, failures, and fallacies of the wider system can all be found within my own attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs - however small or invisible they may be. To truly create an alternative reality that eclipses our current one, I needed to first create an alternative version of myself that reflects the values of this alternative reality that I am fighting to reframe, redefine, and reimagine. And then I need to show up as her and live up to her. That is who ESSA is to me... a persona-fied example of who I can be and what kind of systemic solution I can be part of.
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