Represent Magazine

• Opening Up to the Right People Helped Me

  by Tamya Golson

  Some names have been changed  Going into high school, I had my guard up. I was just coming home from two years in foster care and I was quiet and slow to trust.  I was able to make friends, but I suffered a few betrayals.

• Trying to Create a Life in the Country

  by Anonymous

  When I came to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo three years ago, I bounced around temporary homes in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Even though moving around a lot was difficult, I liked the pace of big cities. 

• Bullying and Jealousy Made Me Into Someone I Didn’t Like

  by S.G.

  Names have been changed.  Being bullied and losing a friend made me loud and obnoxious. By high school, when I realized what I had become, it was hard to change. It started in elementary school. In kindergarten I had a good friend, Sam, and we did everything together.

• Writing My Way to Love

  by S.G.

  Names have been changed. Although my brother Zack was a year older than I was, sometimes I felt like the big sister. I was bolder than he was and I stuck up for him when he was about to be beaten by our adoptive parents.

• Learning From My Mistakes

  by Leroy Chen

  On my first day of elementary school, my mother dressed me and gave me a warning. “Be careful who you hang out with. Especially brown and Black people. They’re not known for good things. They do bad things in the streets.”

• Breaking Free of My Mom to Be My Real Self

  by Miles Dale

  I first realized that my mom’s violence wasn’t normal one day when I was 7. My mom got drunk, which I’d seen before. I’d seen her physically attack people too, but this time was worse. She pulled me out from underneath the couch by my ponytails.