Red

Red is by far my favorite color, yet it always feels so confusing and chaotic. It is a color that raises one’s heart rate and prepares the body for the unexpected.

Red has been my color of choice for all the languages I have taken, from Spanish and French to Japanese and Hawaiian. No matter what language I have attempted to learn, there has always been a disconnect, a distinct red in my mind as I try to wrap my head around something I am not familiar with. Despite being a visual learner, the Japanese letter systems never could find a stable ground to flourish.

The Dragon Boy from Studio Ghibli’s film Spirited Away as well as Salsa Tequila perfectly express these emotions when it comes to learning these particular subjects. The latter song is a compilation of various recognizable Spanish words mushed into a chaotic tune without ever making a coherent sentence.

Red is uncertain yet makes a large statement in a drastically overwhelming world. In my senior year of high school, the Class of 2020 adopted red as our class color. No doubt was the spring semester of that year a complete whirlwind, with COVID19 staining the canvas of a perfect year.

However, while many seniors took this opportunity amidst online learning to fall into the effects of senioritis, I could never catch a break. I somehow managed to tackle multiple AP exams, complete an entire yearbook with a team of two people, and write paragraphs about every senior starting a tradition of Senior Tributes.

Looking back at it all, I have no idea how I survived but it has created a home for the color red in my mind. It is the epitome of stress and my anxiety, but it has also provided me with opportunities to prove my worth despite the uncertainty of life and the limits of my knowledge of the world.

WORKS CITED

Sieberg, Kimberly. “Red” Spotify, Created by KimiSieb, March 2021. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5lRIOQeIoFMvKCPYjW8HFW?si=dMPNNW73S6iq1VVtO6qDSQ

*Note: All photography is by me. Yes, I might be too lazy to cite them all because most of them do not have titles but their years range from 2015 to 2020