Maddy Clifford
Maddy created a series of short videos that grapple with the question: why tf are we forced into unjust, predatory debt (student debt, medical debt, even rent debt) just to access what should be public goods?
About the Artists
Part writer, part musician, part muse, Maddy uses her love of words, sound and power to conjure a more just and beautiful existence. After attaining an MFA in poetry, Maddy went on to teach healing-centered creative writing workshops to hundreds of youth throughout the Bay Area, in her hometown of Seattle, and even as far away as Uganda and Argentina. She accomplished this while fostering collaborative relationships in Oakland, often funding, curating, producing and promoting her own projects. Maddy’s work has allowed her to collaborate with Grammy nominated Hip Hop for kids group, Alphabet Rockers as well as the late great Zumbi of Zion I. You can also find Maddy providing tips to creatives on TikTok. She currently works as a Cultural Strategist in Government for the City of Oakland as well as a Deputy of Communications with Debt Collective.
Website | TikTok: @madlines | IG: @mad.lines
Artist Statement
Owing student debt can be a deeply isolating experience.
When I first started my activist journey, it wasn’t just about building a stronger class analysis or deepening my commitment to economic justice — it was also about being honest about how I've struggled. About saying out loud that I carry over $120,000 in student debt, and naming the real ways it has shaped my life. It's not right! Not in a country that wastes trillions on war and commits scholasticide abroad.
It’s not necessarily always top of mind. But lately, in the things I read and the conversations I’m part of, I feel student debt's weight more clearly. And it keeps bringing me back to a bigger question: why tf are we forced into unjust, predatory debt (student debt, medical debt, even rent debt) just to access what should be public goods?
This burden isn’t distributed equally. Artists, especially those from working-class backgrounds, artists of color, and women artists, are disproportionately impacted by every economic disparity. That reality deserves more attention, more honesty, and more collective conversation. We need to fight for broad based relief and for an economy that works for the many instead of merely the few.
I wrote this poem as part of that effort — to make visible what so many of us are carrying.
And I want to thank Creative Wildfire Propagation Fund ( @movementgeneration @cjaourpower @neweconomycoalition and @_artcoop ) for supporting me in this creative movement work, and for making it possible to connect my organizing with my art in a meaningful way!!