He launches my swing into the air so I can feel the freedom and the height and the potential He holds me up, in the air and in his eyes Delivering as much strength as he can muster Until I get “too big” for the swingset, and we have to shift indoors He records all those early moments through…
I was seven, and my Spanish teacher told me I was squinting at the board. I was happy enough being nearsighted; as long as I could read at night, it was all good. I can’t do that anymore. I inch notes closer and closer to my nose until it hits the sweet spot between where…
There’s nothing more weightless than a childhood summer.
I remember the hydrangea bush in the backyard, a source for many pretend-wedding bouquets. I remember the sleeve of stale saltines. I remember choking on irony and tragedy as the vet told me she’d finally feel relief right before she died. I remember the ungodly amounts of scotch tape my grandmother used to adhere red…
Today is my 19th birthday. Every year I feel like I’ve been that age FOREVER and it’s weird to finally become another year older, since I constantly feel older than my birthdate indicates. But here I am. 19. It’s been a hard year. Let’s just say it was a lot easier to come up with…
I remember the photo I should’ve taken–two teenage girls in plaid skirts chatting and leaning on a police barricade as if it was no big deal. I remember the bizarrely empty 2am bus. I remember not expecting forgiveness. I remember not being forgiven. I remember sitting with her on the back patio, hating every single sound she spoke and…
Dear Sabina, age 10, I know you’re frustrated right now—you fight with your friends weekly, you would give anything to quit swim team, and school is so easy and boring that you fake sick to stay home and read. You just want to be in the real world; you crave change and understanding. In the…
I read this poem in my freshman Honors English class in high school, and it’s one of my favorite poems of all time. In honor of World Poetry Day, I’m posting it here. Enjoy! “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins The whole idea of it makes me feel like I’m coming down with something, something…
Confession: I’ve never eaten ramen at college. Blasphemy, right? Ramen is practically made for midnight snacks and alternatives to dining hall food, but it’s always been a homey comfort food for me. When I was little, ramen was reserved for Saturday mornings. We’d wake up and eat our ramen (always adding peas, chicken, or egg so…
Women face a variety of external struggles in the workplace–undermining comments from chauvinistic bosses, dress codes based on women’s modesty, sexual harassment, fighting for equal pay and maternity leave, the “mommy track,” underrepresentation in STEM fields–but bright women face an additional internal struggle that starts from a young age. Psychologist Carol Dweck conducted a study of…
Victim to Charm 