Arriving, Finally, As My Chosen Name
I had recently cut my hair short for the first time. At school, a male friend saw me and said, “You look like a boy,” and it felt validating, especially coming from a boy. Then, it started to click that maybe I wasn’t the girl I thought I was. A few nights later, I sat […]
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Falling in Love for the First Time
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 […]
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Learning About Feminism in the U.S.
In Japan, most mothers stay home with their children. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about this—I assumed I would be a mom who stayed home with her kids too. But after I moved to New York City from Tokyo, I noticed that most moms work. So while my mom took me to […]
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How We Got an All-Gender Bathroom
I joined my school’s Gender Sexuality Extra (GSX) club with my friend Laura at the beginning of junior year. We are both part of the LGBTQ community and wanted to join a group that is accepting of everyone’s differences. At the first meeting, we all went around in a circle and said our names and […]
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