In a world where we think we’ve seen everything, the videos of the shootings of Alton Sterling and, especially, Philando Castile were shocking because of the intimacy they offered. Anyone who watched Diamond Reynolds calmly addressing the police officer who shot her boyfriend, Castile, as he lay dying beside her, will never forget it.

Across the country, people took to the streets and to the internet. People mourned and raged on social media. And a number of prominent local writers shared an essay by a young writer that caught our eye: “I Don’t Want to Be Beautiful” by Melanie Alldritt. We invited her in to read for us and discuss how writing lets her work through experiences that are too horrible to talk about.

Alldritt is currently working on an essay about the grief of being a black woman that she’ll read at the Grief Rites reading series on August 8 at the American Legion Post 143.