Pennsylvania artist sheds a light on health care system challenges and hair discrimination experienced by people of color

• Aniya Faulcon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

 Maria James-Thiaw

Maria James-Thiaw, award-winning poet, performer, and playwright

Airdate: December 07, 2022

Maria James-Thiaw, award-winning poet, performer, and playwright, has nearly 20 years of experience as a professor of writing and community teaching artist.

She has a passion for using her art to bring light to the experiences that people of color have with the healthcare system and hair.

Thiaw had a personal battle with a chronic illness that fueled her passion to create art about the healthcare system challenges that people of color face.

In 2016, she started experiencing shortness of breath, upon visiting her doctor for a biopsy, she found out there were cysts all over her lungs. After several years of being seen by many doctors, no one could find a name or reason for her condition.

“So sometimes in my poetry I say, ‘you can’t name it’. Like that’s a real frustration and I found that sometimes I was dismissed, sometimes I was not listened to and one time I almost died because although the imaging showed that I had a cyst on my ovary, that was the size of a grapefruit, they sent me home,” Thiaw said. “They said, you don’t seem that bad, you’re not in that much pain. They sent me home and it ruptured.”

According to the CDC, racial and ethnic minority groups within the country experience higher rates of illness and death, when compared to their White counterparts and the life expectancy of people of color is four years lower than that of White Americans.

After Thiaw’s biopsy, she said she experienced excruciating pain, shortness of breath and exercise intolerance. In time, Thiaw built her stamina to exercise regularly, lost weight and incorporated a healthier diet into her lifestyle.

Thiaw wrote a poetry book, Count Each Breath, about the challenges she faced as a Black women with the health care system.

She also has a passion for shedding a light on the experiences people of color have with hair, which inspired her to write a play, HairStory: Reclaiming Our Crown, that will be performed next year, May 4th through May 10th at the Gamut Theatre in Harrisburg.

“I think (art) is a great tool for creating change or the starting point because it awakens people. It can get to the heart of the matter,” Thiaw said. “Whereas a lecture might not impact an argument but art can make somebody really think and make them a little more open to an idea.”