Reintroducing Myself to the World
As the first semester of my sophomore year of high school came to an end, I stared into my bathroom mirror, and a speck of doubt began to devour every thought I had about who I was. A fog swallowed my mind, and I realized I couldn’t recognize my reflection. Or maybe, I thought, the […]
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More Than a Stereotype
Growing up as a Mexican-American, I’ve grown used to people reducing me to a stereotype (one teacher confidently called me “Jose”). I’ve even experienced people assuming that, because my family is Mexican, we’re criminals—that we’re a harm to the economy and to society and that we leech off of the US government. Though people think […]
Read MoreQuestioning Gender, Finding Answers
It happened when I paused outside the girls bathroom during a normal 9th grade math class. For the first time, I began to feel awkward and fearful that I was somehow in the wrong place. I wasn’t sure why I was feeling this way. I checked the sign once, twice. I’m a girl, I silently […]
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For You Are With Me
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” –Psalm 23 Names have been changed. Nestled in the Conservative Jewish part of northeastern Pennsylvania, Camp R in the Poconos is a place many of us who have passed through its wooden bunks call home. […]
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