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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Forgiving My Dad
Before I started grade school, my dad was the stay-at-home parent. I was an only child, so we spent all day together while my mom was at work. He doted on me and taught me to cook, exercise, and enjoy music and films. I followed him everywhere, wearing his clothes and wanting to be just […]
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Pedaling Towards Happiness
In 2017, when I was 10, my parents separated. I was close to my mother, who dressed me up and took me to her friends’ homes where I listened to their conversations in Spanish. My father and I weren’t close. But my siblings and I were forced to move in with my father because he […]
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Adjusting to My Adoptive Family
When I was first adopted out of foster care at age 6, everyone in my new family was sweet to me. It seemed like there was a lot of love. In addition to my two adoptive parents, I had six new siblings. Nobody made me feel like I was different. I watched TV shows and […]
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