True Reflections

By David Zoungrana

True Reflections, a new organization, visited the MediaPlex on the Feb. 4 with hopes to further promote their organization.

Hailey Trealout, an editor for the LaSalle Post, and Caleb Workman, a current St.Clair College journalism student, have come together to launch True Reflections: A Celebration of Differences.

 

Trealout describes this opportunity as a way for people to openly highlight and express characteristics they are proud of, as opposed to focusing on the negative aspects of their own being.

 

“True Reflections wants to give a positive look to what other people see as negative” Trealout said. “Often times, we find that differences are given a negative light. For example, the gap between people’s teeth, the number of freckles one has. These are all things that can be seen positively.”

 

Trealout elaborated on the sensitivity of the matter, as she herself could relate to a lot of struggles associated with mental illnesses.

 

“Mental health illnesses directly affect many people that I know, including myself. I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, so it’s something that hits close to home.”

 

True Reflections invites people to submit self-expressive art via Facebook, Twitter and the organization’s own website. Caleb Workman described the various works that True Reflections will be doing with people.

 

“We started out with the idea of having just a single event. We wanted to get a bunch of people from the community, the College, high schools, grade schools, and parents in one central venue and have a sort of a walk-through,” he said. “One of our main attractions is actually a photo shoot where we take a picture of a person, and that person is to tell us the characteristic they’d like to be noticed.”

 

True Reflections also announced that they will be holding an event on February 27, where all proceeds will be donated to mental health awareness foundations.