• Family Therapy Was a Lifeline

  by J. Huang

  I was 15 and living in a residential center in Denver, where I was being treated for anorexia and depression. In addition to individual therapy, I had a weekly family therapy session, where my parents and I were practicing communication. My therapist knew I had been struggling with suicidal thoughts for a while; part of family communication was sharing this with my parents.

• In Defense of Medea

  by Arina Limarieva

  Warning! Below is my half-satirical/half-real take on Medea as a sympathetic heroine. In World Literature class this spring, we read the ancient Greek play Medea by Euripides (translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien). When the play starts, Medea has already killed her brother and a king.

• Pretty in Pink–And a Boy

  by Rylynn Walters 

  My gender identity isn’t easy to explain. I feel more like a boy, but I was assigned female at birth, and I’ve never minded looking like a girl. Even as a child, I loved being pretty and wearing dresses, especially pink ones. 

• Learning to Live with OCD

  by Nola

  As a very young child, I never engaged with anyone outside my family. I was terrified of the world around me. I was scared of germs, lice, and disease. Around the age of 5 or 6, I slowly developed my first real obsessive habits.

• Black Dancer

  by Grace Andino

  Names have been changed.  When I was a little girl, my mother spent hours slicking back my long, curly hair into braids (with or without bobos), a bun, or puffs.  My mother is Black and my father is Puerto Rican, and we live in a mostly white town on Long Island.

• Passing Down a Love for Art

  by Anonymous

  Since I was four, a range of mentors, from my mom to my grandfather to a real art teacher, have helped me discover what I like—and don’t like—about art.         From the first time I picked up a paintbrush at the age of 4, I was immediately intrigued by the world of art-making.