“I want to emit the emotion of these songs. And in order to get there, I have to reexperience what the song is about. It’s a choice,” says Zardoya.

They enact entire plays with music, dancing and drama where they reexperience both the tragedy and the triumph of helping one another during such difficult times.

“Sometimes part of the healing could be a negative experience someone has to go through, to kind of flush negative emotions out or reexperience some trauma in a healthier way,” Hansen said.

“I haven’t seen many great things. I haven’t been to a new world. I haven’t had many strange experiences. I have experienced many little things. I write about those small experiences and revise them and reexperience them through revision.”

Being able to reexperience my mother’s childhood through her playlists helps me understand why she is who she is.