Dreaming Again - Reflection by Mychal Pagan, resident scholar

This year has been a journey marked by both progress and challenges, setting the stage for what lies ahead. I entered 2023 with hopes of making strides toward being a better photographer, filmmaker, and an all around working professional. And taking the time to discern and reflect on the best possible paths toward a career in community-based photography and documentary filmmaking, I discovered the role traveling could play (working abroad for a few months) in really helping me evolve from student creative to a professional one.  The challenges all around this were getting rid of the limitations I was unknowingly placing on myself. Growing up, I didn’t know anyone who traveled for work or aspired to become professional photographers or filmmakers or forge a career that has at its core a commitment to creativity. So, up to this point, I’ve been working from a place of uncertainty, not knowing if I will actually attain what I feel called to do. This made even imagining what it would be like to live and work in Spain feel surreal and a “is this really happening for me”  moment. 

In the fall semester of 2022, I was invited to apply for a fellowship at the NYU”s Urban Democracy Lab. I did and was accepted not too long after the submission of my application. This opportunity would take me to Spain for the summer of 2023, where I would partner with a local organization that advocates for and supports Home and Care workers, mostly migrant women, coming from South America to Spain in hopes to secure and build a better life. What an opportunity! It was at this juncture of my journey when I started to feel the energy to dream again. My heart was imagining the sounds and sights of far unknown lands and how "The world is vast, and your dreams can take you anywhere." In Spain, my heart aligned with the resilient Home and Care workers, whose narratives echoed the strength and compassion that often goes unnoticed. Their stories became a reflection of my own journey—proof that the power to serve others is the greatest gift we can possess. As the summer sun bathed Madrid's streets in golden warmth, I felt a renewal of purpose and an affirmation of my dreams and discovered new meaning in the work of using your talents in service of others. Serving others had become not just a noble pursuit, but a calling. It was in the stories of those resilient individuals that I found the missing pieces of my own narrative—the strength to overcome adversity and the courage to dream again.