Share this story:
Looking back on Youth Radio’s best Instagram posts of the year, it’s clear 2017 has been craaaaaaazy. We’ve seen marches for women and counter protests to white supremacy. We’ve seen travel bans come and go and come around again. We’ve seen hashtags rise and powerful men fall.
So please join us in looking back on 2017 in pictures, illustrations, and GIFS. And if you don’t want to miss out on beautiful designs in 2018, don’t forget to follow @youthradio on Instagram!
I just watched my mom graduate nursing school. She walked across the stage after six years of work, and I cheered like a madman. My mom got pregnant with me when she was 21. She had just reached the legal drinking age, and already she was having a kid. She had to grow up faster than her peers, and take on a huge responsibility probably 10 years too early. I remember on her first day of school, she came into my room with her back pack and her travel mug full of coffee, looking like an ecstatic little kid. I took my phone off the bedside table, and took a picture. I imagine this is how she must’ve felt, when she saw me off to my first day of high school. Even in 2017, women are still commonly expected to put motherhood before their ambition. But watching my mom go through school, I got to see her as more than a mother, but as a woman empowered. My mom made sure I had the opportunities she didn’t. She paid for me to participate in community theater, while working a job her heart wasn’t in, and taking loans from her parents. That’s why it was so satisfying to see her finally get her walk across that stage, and accept her diploma. #HappyMothersDay#BestMomEver#motherhood#motherdaughter #graduation#youngmom#womanempowerment Commentary by Charlie Stuip @snotg1rl Illustration by Desmond Meagley @dasherz
A post shared by Youth Radio (@youthradio) on May 11, 2017 at 4:30pm PDT
I have four tattoos on my body, and I’m saving up for more. Each new piece is a way for me to connect to an identity that was stripped from me. Every time I get tatted, my tattoo artist says, “Cheers!” It’s a cause of celebration. When I was one and a half, I was taken from my biological family and put into foster care. So I grew up not knowing my own family history, or even where I came from. Then, when I was 18, a cousin on my father’s side found me on Instagram. She told me our family is from a city in Mexico called Uruapan, in the state Michoacan. After we spoke, I got a sunstone tatted on my right forearm. When I look at it, it makes me feel more connected to my indigenous Latin culture. I’m using tattoos to inscribe my family’s story on my skin, because I went so long not knowing my history or my identity. Having it inked on my body will ensure I can never forget. Commentary by Noel Anaya. Illustration by @dasherz Desmond Meagley. Animation by Jenny Bolario. #commentary #fostercare #culture #latinx #mayan #tattoo #culture #youthradio #realvoices #adoption
A post shared by Youth Radio (@youthradio) on Jun 6, 2017 at 9:22am PDT
