• Caught in the Middle of an Ugly Divorce

  by A.O.

  I was born and raised in East Harlem near 110th and Madison. Both my parents were well known on the block; for a time I felt like royalty. My mom told me stories about how my aunts and neighbors fought over who held me next.

• Falling in Love for the First Time

  by E.M.

  My senior year started out amazing. I was on top of all my work, getting the best scores I could get, and making new friends. I was about to become the second person in my family to graduate high school. Adding to my excitement, I also met a girl who sat next to me in English class.

• Movie Review: Moonlight

  by Sedrick Sanchez

  Moonlight is about a character I’ve never seen in a movie—a gay thug who is big, bad, and scary, but who expresses his feelings. Instead of a monster, the movie shows a drug dealer as a human being. His name is Chiron, and he lives in a poor part of Miami, Florida.

• My Looking-Glass Self

  by Marlo Scott

  I was anxious on the first day of my first college class, The Individual and Society. It was a sociology class that my adviser had suggested I take. I did not even know what “sociology” meant when I signed up. I certainly did not know that something in that class would make my own life clearer to me.

• Almost One of the Gang

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. When I was in 8th grade, all my friends started joining the Crips gang. They bragged about how cool they were, and they made gang life look so easy and fun. I hung out with them to learn more and just to be able to say I hung out with gang members.

• Too Much Pride

  by Antwaun Garcia

  I come from a family with a huge amount of pride. The men in my family especially have a lot of pride and don’t like to ask for help. So until recently I rarely asked for help. I was scared of being looked upon as less of a man.