In Print Out Loud

Hi!! Welcome to In Print Out Loud, my blog, brand, and personal website, centered on my writing and speaking endeavors. My name is Sydney, and this project is a dream made reality for me.

While my true passion and practice for writing and public speaking began around 8 years ago, my love of words has been lifelong. My 6-year-old self only dreamed of a life where her words were heard. So, thorughout my childhood, I explored ways to be seen through storytelling and literature. I fell in love with the concept of classic novels. I was amazed by the way that one person’s words could be loved and studied through generations. I remember going to Barnes & Noble in middle school and using my Christmas money to buy as many classics as I could. I carried a basket piled high with books like Moby Dick and Les Miserables. A bookseller caught on to my vibe and recommended Middlemarch, telling me it was the greatest book of all time. He had a very proper British accent, so I guess it made sense. I put the book in my basket, even though I had no interest in English provincial life.

For the next year, I would try to read the books, but struggled to connect to their essences. Then, in 8th grade, I discovered my love for poetry, and truly began to feel seen through words. I created a Performance for National History Day about Maya Angelou that spring, and somehow managed to secure a phone conversation with her son, Guy Johnson, in preparation. In that experience I fell in love with the voice as a medium for stories, which inspired me to audition for my high school speech team that fall, which was probably the single most influential decision I have made in my life.

Through my four years on the speech team, I truly found my voice. I felt seen through words and public speaking became music. I competed primarily in dramatic artistic categories, Poetry being my number one. Each of my pieces were integral to my journey, from my first one on the faults in the education system to my second on the inclusion of consent in sex education, but I will always be most proud of my senior year piece. My piece, “Black to Life”, was centered around the argument that the mental health stigma for Black women and stereotypes like the Strong Black Woman directly influence the violence that Black women face, because they create excuses to give us less protections, while ignoring the intersection of both racism and sexism that create further conditions for violence. I designed an incredible piece using content from artists like my favorite poet Danez Smith, Ntozake Shange and her iconic play, and even Solange’s “Cranes in the Sky.” Through this piece, I solidified my passion for using my words to advocate and to uplift. I fell in love with crafting a cohesive written piece and speaking it out loud, and I learned that I was very, very good at it. That same year, my speech coach Allison wrote me a letter of recommendation for my college applications, and in it, after describing my journey to excelling in speech through both passion and accolades, she said perhaps the most influential quote of my life: “To know Sydney Turner is to believe in her.” Allison articulated the very thing that encompasses the person I have grown into, from a shy young girl who could barely imagine a world bigger than her room. I believe in myself so much that it defines who I am, which is the driving force behind why I choose to write, to speak, and to do everything I do. I truly love myself so much, that I want to create the best version of my life, and there is no doubt in my mind that I can do it. Using my voice is one of the biggest ways I create that life.

I started In Print Out Loud to have a space to showcase who I am and to keep digital documentation of my endeavors, for both personal and professional purposes. But above all, I started this space for me. I believe in the power of my own voice, even if no one reads my blog posts. I write for my 6-year-old self, who just wanted to be heard. While speaking has certainly given me a space to literally see people listening to me, writing has allowed me to be in company with an audience of only myself. Here, I will post my essays and poems, and I hope this will serve as a platform that will guide me towards publishing my first chapbook of poetry (finished this past January!) and some day, a full nonfiction book and a memoir. “In Print” is for that part of who I am — a person who adores the immortality of words written to be seen right before you. “Out Loud” is for the other part, my love of the voice. While I love to write on paper, I feel most fulfilled when I can share those words out loud.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, I want to say thank you for reading the beginning of this project of mine. I hope that In Print Out Loud has viewers, readers, and listeners, as I do love an audience (*laughs*). But, even if no one sees this, I will create just the same.

This project is In Print for you, Out Loud for you, but at the end of the day, I remind myself that first, it is for me.