An Interview With Rosa

This interview was conducted with Rosa, a Marginal Leadership Programme participant, at the beginning of 2020. After attending several sessions run by our sibling organisation Comics Youth, it became apparent that Rosa has an unparalleled gift for writing and a unique perspective that deserves to be celebrated and heard. We’re incredibly excited to help Rosa develop her poetry collection and to share it with a world which currently needs her voice more than ever. 

This is her story in becoming an important part of Marginal. 

Rosa, age [insert age]

What was it about Marginal and Comics Youth that first made you want to be involved?

I was really angry! And I was sad because I was angry and I had nothing to channel that anger into. 

What are you angry about?
The world isn’t fair. So, I’m angry about that all the time. And then everyone tells me to calm down and that I’m being silly and it’s like, no. But with Marginal and Comics Youth, I don’t have to now… being a part of this lets me be angry when no-one else lets me be angry. Everyone else just tells me to calm down.

In everyday life, or just the world in general, what things do you find challenging or that you dislike a huge amount?

Yeah, there’s lots of things. Where do we start?! I don’t like anything that’s happening in the world right now. It’s all scary and depressing and awful. And I think you’d be mad if you weren’t upset by it. Either that or you live in a hole. But part of the problem is also that people are literally living in holes and doorways on the street. That really upsets me. 

There’s also the fact that poor people are considered stupid – because we’re not stupid. Ooh, and this is a big one: How much people with disabilities are disregarded by society and the system that they’re in. Because I feel like, and especially with things like autism, people don’t know enough about it to be considerate. So I’ve had people say to me really weird, niche things where it’s like How do you want me to answer that?! What am I meant to say to you?

People don’t see the fact that disabilities are not disabilities because of the disability. They’re disabilities because of the circumstances that aren’t accommodating to the disabilities. That’s what disables people - not the physical thing. But there are lots of different people with lots of different things and if we just built the world a bit better… Basically, I just want to rebuild the world and then it’d be fine.
 
How does being part of Marginal and Comics Youth help you to deal with those challenges and the things you dislike?
I’ve said it a million times but it gives me an outlet for those things. Because I feel like other youth spaces are not very understanding of people’s circumstances. But here, people will listen and be like, This is what you can do. And then they’ll go away and actively think about it instead of just brushing you off. 

Also, there are a lot of people here who understand and agree with me and I feel like that’s really important. Because in other spaces you get so many people who just don’t understand the situation that you’re in. But then when I got involved with Comics Youth and the Marginal programme, everyone was like, Yeah, we get it! And it’s cool. 

I’ve learned to channel the fact that I’m angry instead of just shouting about the fact that I’m angry. So people can actually understand my anger and what I’m angry about. I’m more articulate now. Everyone understands and they’re like, Oh yeah! I hear you and I’m with you. I’m a poet so writing’s definitely my thing and being involved has given me more confidence to explore that.

What sort of things do you enjoy doing in your everyday life outside of Marginal and Comics Youth?

I read and write and listen to poetry all the time. And I mostly watch the same TV shows over and over again. And I go and sit in my girlfriend’s house and she’ll be like, Seriously? Are we watching this again? And I’ll be like Yeah, cos there’s nothing else to do! I think I’ve seen Skins 25 times now. I’m currently re-teaching myself how to play guitar. For the third time. 

Electric or acoustic?

Acoustic. I started playing electric guitar and then my guitar teacher was mean so I was like, I’m not doing this anymore. And then I went to a guitar teacher who could only teach acoustic so that’s why I started playing acoustic. And now I just do both. 

You know the key to playing good electric guitar? You just use a distortion pedal so that nobody knows when you play a wrong note!

Exactly! And it also makes it sound cool! That’s what I thought, but my guitar teacher was like No, that’s wrong and I’d be like, Go away, I don’t want to learn how to play Blackbird by The Beatles twenty five times! He’d ask me what I’d want to learn and I’d say to him like, Can I learn Nirvana? And he’d just be like, Hmm, nope – let’s learn this. And I wouldn’t like that song. 

Yeah, it’s that thing again of people just not listening…

Yeah, it is! And I feel like no-one really listens very much. That is, until I came here and everyone finally did. Cos it’s like, if I have a suggestion now everyone listens and will be like, Ooh, that’s good. Or they at least acknowledge my suggestion instead of just brushing it off like, No, you can’t play Nirvana! 

This interview has been edited for clarity.