Photo taken by contributor Kait Mauro, a 22-year-old Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native who has lived all over the country. Kait has a diagnosis of major depression, severe and recurrent, as well as having experienced anxiety and disordered eating during her teenage years. She is currently an undergraduate at Washington University in Saint Louis where she studies Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Creative Writing. Her primary mediums are poetry and photography, though she has also been known to dabble in printmaking and other genres of writing. She seeks to understand her experiences and to connect with others through her art.

About this photo: “I took this photograph at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California during a three-week solo backpacking trip down the west coast. I stopped in Monterey Bay for a few days and ended up buying a pass to the aquarium, which is one of the best in the world, because it was cheaper to buy an annual pass than to buy a ticket each day. I spent most of the day there almost every day I was in town. My favorite creatures were the jellyfish, but I found all of the cool tones and sounds and tanks of water to be very calming and centering.”

Find more from Kait at kaitmauro.com and her flickr.

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