Hi! I am Daria Hanks,
a film student and storyteller.

NIKAYLA WILSON
spiritual guide. nature lover. skater. friend.

— CREATION STORY POEM
When people ask me where I'm from
I say that I'm from Saipan of The Northern Marianas Islands.
There, we’re surrounded by the laughter of young children,
The smell of delicious cultural food,
Beautiful beaches filled with aquatic creatures, churches, free spirits of our Unforgotten, and endless culture.
I am from Puntan and Fu’una,
From the gods of the Northern Mariana Islands,
I am from the moon and the sun,
From the eyes and back of Puntan,
I am from the supernatural powers of Fu’una,
From the energy and spirits she used to form the earth
— I am from Fu’una the Fouha Rock, From the Creation Point, I am from Foutha Rock.

When I think of colonization, I picture angels. I picture this because I strongly believe in the theory that there is a dark side. I don’t feel that a human is capable of feeling no empathy for others of the same nature especially when they are in a state of pain. This is because, as my teacher once explained to me, we as humans are born not knowing how to express ourselves through speech but only through emotion. An example of this is when a baby cries and another baby sees that they start to cry too, not because anything is happening to them but because it’s human nature to feel for one another. So when I think of the heinous acts of colonization, it is hard to imagine how any individual could inflict that much pain on another individual. I think of colonization as a death angel that possessed our land forcing us to lose connection to our history and lands.
