Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference 2021

Featured Artist: Jessica Flores is a recent graduate from the University of Toledo BSW program. Jessica was inspired to share her poetry and artwork after reading some of the Fearless Writers work completed during the COVID shut down.

The Third of November
Written by Jessica Flores (all rights reserved)

Will we remember the third of November?
A day in an infamous year.
The young and the old, both being bold.
Refusing to give into fear.
We ran to the polls.
We turned out in droves.
Ready to make our choices clear.
The youth all rise up.
To shake some things up.
Demanding intolerance will not stay!
Prepared and sincere, a hope we hold dear,
That our land will soon be ok.
In spite of the year,
Civic duty is clear.
We will not adhere to a crude puppeteer.
Our voices will rise.
With strength and with pride.
Despite a plague that could kill us away.
We now hold our breath,
Along with the rest.
Trusting that justice can and will persevere!

Juntos (means together) A Series of Paintings by Jessica Flores

Pandemic Nebula

Help Us Mother, Protect Us Huitzilopochtli

This painting is a cry out to the Gods, ancient and modern. During this time in our society, I believe humanity as a whole, could benefit from the aid of our higher powers. It’s a prayer to our modern deities such as The Blessed Mother. The Virgin Mother was painted in the unique style of the scared Day of the Dead as a homage to our beautiful culture. Huitzilopochtli is an ancient Aztec God of War and God of the Sun. He was also called Hummingbird on the Left. Hummingbirds surround the painting as it was believed that fallen warriors would return to the earth as hummingbirds. Huitzilopochtli was also the Patron God of the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan. To me, when we allow children to live in cages, as depicted at the bottom corner of the painting, I strongly fell a need for the power and guidance of our Gods.