Out of My Room and Into the World
I have always been a homebody, even in elementary school. I went to the park after class with my friends, and to birthday parties. But I felt safest and happiest and most myself at home—the tiny, messy apartment I share with my parents. Starting in 6th grade, I hung out with kids who were kind […]
Read MoreFrom Group Chat to Real Friends
Names have been changed. In 5th grade, I was diagnosed with selective mutism. Though I could speak comfortably at home with my parents and my twin sister Ada, at school I was completely mute. We were in different classes, but I’d stick by Ada at lunch. “Why are you always hanging around me? Don’t you […]
Read MoreI Had to Leave
It was November 2019, an ash-gray morning. The car smelled like gas. I was in a new school for 7th grade, and my mom was driving me there. Neither of us had eaten anything. I could tell she was stressed and angry. Suddenly she was shouting at me. I can’t remember why, but I remember […]
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I Look, Therefore I Am?
Names have been changed. It was the day of my friend Amanda’s bat mitzvah. She was more of a recent friend, someone who, with my implicit permission, tended to degrade me on a daily basis. Nonetheless, I liked her, and at one of the final parties of the year-long bat mitzvah season, I wanted to […]
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