Pitch (Revised)

Dear Nicole Cliffe,

When I was 21, I was diagnosed with an illness that changed my life. It affected me so much that I’m afraid to write it here for fear of stigma. It flipped my world upside down, not only because of the severe symptoms but because the diagnosis itself proved challenging. It changed my social life and the way I go about the world.

Most people may understand how stigma affects our lives on the surface, but there are many things that the world doesn’t know. It isn’t just social problems or even bullying that we face; every aspect of our lives, even the most mundane of daily tasks, is affected.

I will be writing a personal and slightly self-deprecating article titled “Living with a Stigmatized Mental Illness.” In using my own personal struggles, I hope to convey the difficulties of living with a severe mental illness.

I am a graduate student at Emerson College pursuing a degree in Publishing and Writing. My alma mater is Salem State University, where I majored in English and minored in Psychology. I have published poetry in the anthology Verses and Visions: Taking Shape, and I am currently working on a novel about a schizophrenic living in a dystopian society.

Thanks for reading,

Colleen Kelly