The Glory of a Face

16 February 2021

  • Wearing a mask is a beautiful thing until the moment dawns on you that taking it off is a lot harder than putting it on. I had been wearing a mask for ten years before realizing it had begun to adhere to my face and to disintegrate the identity it hid.
    Hannah C avatarHannah C2/4/21 2:25am
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  • The sad part was that everyone had grown to like the person I was with it on much better than the person I was beneath it. It hurt to know that who I truly was was never enough... that I had to wear a mask and play a part in order to be accepted.
    Sunny A avatarSunny A2/4/21 2:50am
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  • The question was, was I content to be what others wanted me to be, just to belong in a group, or would I be happier ridding myself of the mask and being free to express myself fully and uniquely? There were consequences to be considered, either way.
    Dawn R avatarDawn R2/4/21 4:35am
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  • So I decided to take the middle route for now. Discarding the wooden, unnatural mask I wore every day, I carved a new one with interlocking parts and one that was audaciously half the size of its predecessor. It was a half-mask that restricted yet freed. But would it work? I was
    Kara S2/4/21 10:10am
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  • game to try it out. I strode out onto the stage and announced my lines as I usually did, but the sound of my voice was amplified even more than usual. I could see reactions not just among the audience members in the first few rows, but the people sitting higher up. I was heard!
    KW T avatarKW T2/4/21 6:31pm
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  • I was so overjoyed that the audience was hearing and reacting positively to me that I ripped off my mask right before saying my character's most dramatic line.
    Avery B2/4/21 7:28pm
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  • The audience didn’t give the reaction I expected. They just stared at my face without a mask.
    Madeline S avatarMadeline S2/5/21 4:35pm
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  • “We all wear many masks in our lives”, I exclaimed, “but some masks are invisible!” Then I made a deep exaggerated bow, and left the stage.
    Sean K avatarSean K2/12/21 5:01am
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  • with a flourish I went back stage. My heart still jumping through my chest like after every performance but this one I knew was so very different. I saw myself in the mirror and found something new. For the first time
    Josh C avatarJosh C2/15/21 11:06am
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  • I liked what I saw. I set my mask down at my vanity and buried my face in my sweaty hands and listened to the muffled screams of a stadium full of fans. Fans who traveled from distant corners of the world to see me, hear me. I turned off the lights in my dressing room and cried.
    Sam B avatarSam B2/16/21 5:20am
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The End