Amy Black riding the Red Line Metro to UCLA. (Rasha Ali / Neon Tommy)

The subway doors opened and she quickly grabbed my arm to pull me closer to her so I could see what she was looking at. She pointed at a sign that was posted on the platform’s wall: Suicide Crisis Hotline. 

“That sign actually saved my life,” she said.

Amy Black is a 19-year-old biology student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was leaning against a post, looking at her phone, waiting for the Metro Red Line. Her face was initially hidden behind her big dark rimmed glasses and bluish-green streaked hair. 

The stress of a heavy academic workload, the unexpected risks on her commute, and the lack of sleep she was getting from taking the train six hours a day, the student’s mental health began to deteriorate. “I’m getting irrational thoughts, I’m getting suicidal ideations,” she said. She remembered the sign that was posted on the platform and called the hotline for help. 

This is Black’s first year relying on public transportation to get her to and from school. While most college students grumble about waking up early for their 8 a.m. classes, Black has slightly different challenges. 

“I kind of did the math a bit in my head, I was traveling six hours a day for three hours of education,” the biology student said about her last semester’s schedule. 

Amy Black takes public transportation every day to get to school. (Rasha Ali / Neon Tommy)

To get to her morning class on time, Black would have to wake up at 4 a.m. to leave her house in Baldwin Park by 5 a.m. Even a minute of slacking could put her behind an entire hour, causing her to miss her class completely. 

“I tried so hard to get into UCLA…studying so hard…I mean, I spent many nights just staying up studying for AP exams or completing my senior project or whatever. I mean, just the fact that I had put so much effort in before made me feel like if I was able to last before, I can last now,” she says about her six hour commute.

Black’s daily commute also places her in risky situations, which have had dangerous effects on her mental health. “One night when I was riding the Metro Red Line, I was on my way back home from a study session for finals… and I was actually assaulted,” she shares with disbelief in her voice. 

Black recalls getting off the metro at Union Station when a man grabbed her arms and told her that she was “pretty and worth a lot for one night.” She was able to escape the man’s grasps after fellow commuters helped pull her away from her attacker.

She is currently in the process of moving to an apartment in Westwood, two miles away from UCLA. Although that is still a 35-minute walk, Black is thankful she no longer has to spend six hours every day on public transportation.

(Brian Bencomo / Annenberg Media)

Contact Contributor Rasha Ali here and follow her on Twitter here.