We all know the feeling. The moment you gaze upon someone and it takes your breath away.
The moment where the feeling starts in the pit of your stomach and works its way up to the tender hairs of your neck, making it difficult to turn away.
There are a million answers of why one responds to beauty in such a visceral way, but very little that helps us understand what beauty really is.
And as Saint proposes, we shouldn’t even try. Because beauty isn’t something you are, it’s something you feel.
Beauty doesn’t have a specific definition. But if I had to tell you what I thought it was, it is the way a person might flutter his eyes, breathe, talk, and move his lips when he smiles. It’s body language, which is important, because it tells what a person has been through, and what kind of person he is.
Beauty is more than high cheekbones, abs, and a strong jawline, it’s what a person is thinking, his goals and aspirations that keep him going. It’s him knowing what he’s been through and how it has played a role in making him who he is now. In this moment. Beauty takes courage because it’s being brave enough to be yourself. No matter what.
Most people don’t realize it, but the thing about beauty and being in the spotlight is that everyone wants it. But once it’s on you, you realize it is much harder than it looks. You realize that society portrays beauty as this small box you must fit into. And the more you try to squeeze into it, the more you become self-conscious and afraid to be yourself. But I don’t think that’s what beauty is. It’s more than what society makes it out to be. I actually think society ruins the word “beauty.”
[Beauty] is like when you love someone, you don’t necessarily have to tell them. You feel it. You know it….Words can’t explain it.
If I had the power, I would take the word “beauty” and I would throw it away. I would take it out of the language completely. I wouldn’t give it a definition. I would actually consider it an emotion. And words can never truly capture an emotion. It would be like when you love someone, you don’t necessarily have to tell them. You feel it. You know it. That’s how beauty would be. That’s what I think beauty really is.
I don’t know whether I fit society’s definition of what beauty is. I might. I might not. But I do believe that the eyes are windows to the soul, and if you look at my eyes and ignore the color of them, but really look and drown yourself in them, you would see a whole lot of things that you didn’t think you could see. But more than anything, you’d see a man who is gentle and kind. And I consider that to be beautiful.
Recently, I just realized that there is no one way to be a man. It’s really just a man trying to be himself, whatever that is. And I think beauty is the same way. You know it when you see it. You feel it. Maybe one day we’ll realize It doesn’t need to be defined.
In 2019, Keith F. Miller, Jr., observed something remarkable while running creative writing after school programs in Savannah, GA: Students from all backgrounds didn’t just step outside their comfort zones—they learned, led, and thrived with unmistakable joy. Despite this, Keith heard from students and families that school, even for the high-achievers, was a place they survived, not thrived. This led Keith, through his studies in Educational Psychology, to explore why young people felt empowered to learn, lead, and heal in some spaces but not in others.
Through a qualitative research study involving interviews with high schoolers, fellow teaching artists over a year, in addition to examining creative works from youth journals and performances, Keith found that when young people engage in arts-based healing practices with trusted others (peers and adults), they don’t just cope with their struggles—they transform them, becoming vibrant leaders in the process.
Drawing inspiration from the process of rainbow formation—reflection, refraction, and dispersion—and building off of groundbreaking research from scholars like David Kirkland, Gholdy Muhammad, Bettina Love, Bianca Baldridge, and Shawn Ginwright, Keith developed the Healing Literacy Framework, illustrating how arts-based, community programs are vital in supporting young people as they overcome educational trauma, and, in doing so, can result in transformative partnerships in school and beyond that prove healing is possible for everyone.
Enter, HEALIT
In 2019, Keith F. Miller, Jr., observed something remarkable while running creative writing after school programs in Savannah, GA: Students from all backgrounds didn’t just step outside their comfort zones—they learned, led, and thrived with unmistakable joy. Despite this, Keith heard from students and families that school, even for the high-achievers, was a place they survived, not thrived. This led Keith, through his studies in Educational Psychology, to explore why young people felt empowered to learn, lead, and heal in some spaces but not in others.
Through a qualitative research study involving interviews with high schoolers, fellow teaching artists over a year, in addition to examining creative works from youth journals and performances, Keith found that when young people engage in arts-based healing practices with trusted others (peers and adults), they don’t just cope with their struggles—they transform them, becoming vibrant leaders in the process.
Drawing inspiration from the process of rainbow formation—reflection, refraction, and dispersion—and building off of groundbreaking research from scholars like David Kirkland, Gholdy Muhammad, Bettina Love, Bianca Baldridge, and Shawn Ginwright, Keith developed the Healing Literacy Framework, illustrating how arts-based, community programs are vital in supporting young people as they overcome educational trauma, and, in doing so, can result in transformative partnerships in school and beyond that prove healing is possible for everyone.
Keith F. Miller, Jr.