Mental illness in the African American community is seldom discussed. The silence, or hush, around the subject is a menacing co-conspirator, a corrosive agent eating away at the health and wellbeing of an otherwise proud people. I know. I’ve been there. I am a designer and a writer. Prompted by a set of single words, I crafted a series of short narratives and an installation. Rather unwittingly, I came to see these narratives as telling vignettes into the shadow-world of mental illness.